Day seven of #JusJoJan!
I’m going to try to write on each of the prompts!
Today the prompt is:
Your prompt for January 5th, 2018, brought to you by the fantastic photographer, Ruth, is “Indelible.” Use it any way you’d like in your post. And make sure you visit Ruth at her blog, “Image and Word” to read her post and say hi! 😀 Here’s her link: https://imageandword.wordpress.com/
Thanks, Ruth, for making me think!!
Now, the first thing that came to mind when thinking of the word indelible, was permanent marker!
A little backstory…
When Lil Man was truly little, we used to live in my in-laws’ house. Even though just the thought of that makes some peoples skin crawl, it was actually a great thing. I had so much support when I first got married, getting used to wifely duties and when my kids were born.
Though there was something I was hoping to change, slowly, and that was the decor. When we got engaged, there was this interesting maroon and gold flock wallpaper, reminiscent of the old school Indian restaurants, in the main living room.
Oh, it would have been pricey paper, but was just so old-fashioned! I saw the paper in our engagement photos (it’s a long story, but in certain stages of a Sikh engagement, traditionally the girl and boy aren’t together – that explanation deserves another post!) and was a bit alarmed!
As the wedding date was set, there commenced a big renovation project at Hubby Dearest’s house; walls being knocked through, new kitchen and bathroom, and lots of redecorating!
I was unable to be involved at this stage as I wasn’t formally part of the family, and there were no girls in the household, bar my Mother-in-Law. I gently encouraged my Hubby Dearest and his brother to go out with their parents to choose things for the house…
The reports I got back from some of his friends were that the woodwork looked great… there was loads of space… there wasn’t patterned carpet… Fantastic!
When we were finally married and I walked into the main living room as a bride, the room was full, and I mean FULL, of family and cameramen, ready to record this precious moment, lights blaring and all… and I thought I had stepped into Aladdin’s cave!
Because the flock paper had given way to more gold and maroon paper! It wasn’t flocked this time, but more embossed, and the in-laws’ had been sold it by some guy in a shop who had told them it was the in thing! And it was EXPENSIVE! (And no, the boys had NOT been there to help with this decision!)
Anyway, I had to learn to live with it, after all, I wasn’t the demanding daughter-in-law, and wasn’t about to get the whole place redecorated after they had spent so much money, with such love!
Now, back to the indelible part!
As kids grow up, they like to experiment. We all know that.
My son was no different. After he reached one, I went back to work part-time, and my in-laws’ looked after him.
One day my two/possibly three-year-old ( can’t remember his exact age when this happened!) was toddling around the house, as he was apt to, then went all silent.
My Father-in-Law likes to have writing implements all around the house, in case he needs to jot things down. Biros, pencils, markers: they are everywhere.
Lil Man took full advantage of this fact.
I arrived back from work to find that the front living room, the posh one, you know, the Aladdin’s cave, had been redecorated in one corner. Not a discreet, ‘we can hide it with a sofa’ corner, but up high, in full view, on one of the walls!
And with indelible ink!
Yes, in one pot, my Father-in-Law had left a permanent marker, a black one, which looked fun to draw with, and Lil Man used all his artistic abilities, defacing the wall, and his hands!
Thankfully the family saw the funny side, and who can be angry at a little child with the cutest of smiles?!
But we obviously couldn’t rid the wall of the stains, and my brother-in-law was getting married soon after…
So the big redecoration happened, and with me helping to choose, we decided upon no paper this time, but painted walls! It only took 9 years! And I’d already moved out of the house by this time!
See, that is one indelible memory!
See you tomorrow!
If you want to find a full list of rules and the daily prompts visit here.
But I Smile Anyway... 