The theme this week is “Childhood Experiences”
My aging neighbours are moving out. I’m standing in front of their house remembering the family who lived there when I was a kid. Its long ago now and my memory is clouded by time. But I recall a Sunday afternoon in the autumn following my mother to this house. She went in and there must have been news because she came out upset. Our neighbour was holding her, hugging her. Signs of affection were rare with my parents. But this day I remember my mother being held. Mum’s mother had died. We’d made numerous trips to the hospital over the previous weeks and I don’t recall why we weren’t there at this time. Mum cried that day and like so much of my childhood did all she could to shelter me from the world of adults.
out of our old house
autumn leaves litter the ground
one life concludes
Written for: https://dversepoets.com/2017/01/09/haibun-monday-28/
Morpethroad 
Protection that is a mother’s Job!
Yes indeed its the way it was back then…..we were never allowed to attend any of our grandparents funerals in fact I don’t think I attended one until I was near being a teenager..
Yes that is how it was with us too… any problems, trouble or deaths and the adults all spoke in hushed tones and we were ushered out of the way!!
Yes exactly, I was never quite clear about what they were hiding us from but I think its the way they were treated too as children….people behave the way they know don’t they…
Yes all the children seen and not heard.. but why did we break the mould?
We were exposed to more of the world than our parents, we were more informed and we asked a lot of questions….
Yes and the next two generations even more so! 😊
Very much so
Indeed. .. because I said so!
👍
It’s interesting how we hold onto parts of a memory even when we don’t know all of what was going on at the time. And the circumstances that will trigger such a memory can be quite unexpected. Thanks for sharing this nice piece about your mom.
Thanks for stopping by Linda…
I think kids could use a little more sheltering these days – so much for an unfolding of reality as they age.
Yes so much is in their faces isn’t it…..its like its gone full circle…thanks Victoria for stopping by.
The adults try as long as they could ….but we grow up quickly and learn the sadness of a loved one passing away ~ Thanks for sharing Michael ~
Thanks Grace, have a good day..
One doesn’t expect to see one’s parents cry. I still remember by Dad’s tears when my brother died.
You are right it does come as a shock
I find it interesting of what parts of our childhood we keep in memory. Great haibun.
Thank you so much😁
Excellent post for the prompt Michael.
Thank you Lyn
I remember clearly the times I saw either parent cry. We were a lot more shielded then. Beautiful poem, Michael.
Thank you so much, appreciate you stopping by…
Sometimes I think that parents shelter too much. Children are quite perceptive and will realize that they are being sheltered or worse… Maybe it can take a lifetime to lay the puzzle and understand the emotion that they carry inside… Even it it’s with the best intentions.
As parents it’s always a fine balance.
I agree with Bjorn – I often feel I have sheltered my children too much. But how to tell them all the things I despair about myself?
I like the parallel structure between one old couple moving out and the death of your grandmother – the end of a way of life.
Thanks Marina, appreciate your thoughts. It is a balance at times as parents to protect or let them find out.
Well crafted and the haiku is quite excellent. It’s tough knowing when to shelter and when not I’ve tended to err on the latter and it seems to have been the right path so far!
Thank you so much for stopping by.
As a grandparent I often wonder how much I over or under protected my kids and grandkids….hoping it was a good balance so they would grow without fear, but who knows?
We simply do our best Kathy and hope for the best….
Your poem captures strongly the complex struggle that mothers have in balancing their own needs/desires (give in to grief, for example) with what they feel compelled to do as mothers (protect children from loss).
Thank you C.C. Protection is that parental thing isn’t it, even now with adult children I still have those needs to protect my kids.
Oh, I understand completely…I feel the same way with my adult children 😉
It is such a fine balance and I too was always kept away from funerals with the best of intentions. Even when it is experieced as a wrong decision the intention behind it is always based on love and good intentions.
You are right they made decisions thinking they were in our best interests same as we have done with our kids.
Even shelters, though, it seems that kids can often sense that ‘something’s wrong’
Oh yes but they don’t always get the answers they want…thanks Bryan for stopping by.
Beautifully written. What struck me most in this piece was the fact that you are reflecting on memories from the same house you lived as a child. Have you pretty much stayed in the same place since your childhood?
My childhood wasn’t very ‘organised’ and we moved around all the time. I can’t remember ever staying in the same place for more than a year or 2 at most. Not until I became an adult and made the decision to ‘Stop Moving’.
My house was my childhood home. I moved away when I started work but in 2007 I moved back to care for my fathers. Now the house is mine.