It is curious for me to write this given the nature of my previous post. But I firmly believe that had it not been for the spark of happiness, the story of my life would have been different.

Undoubtedly those moments of joy made those dark times easier to cope with and took me out of those horrible thoughts that were flying around in my head.

Today I go back to my early childhood years. Since I was a little girl I think I have seen happiness in the simple and I want to talk about those elements that gave me happy moments.

The first thing that comes to my memory is the small house where we lived with white walls and a red floor; it had a huge yard where my father planted grass. I can assure you that it was the best carpet of my life.

It was very safe and my brothers and I played there every day. For many years there was a white swing that belonged to a family friend. There we had a lot of fun times.

The most spectacular of all was when it rained. The grass was so dense that it took a long time to absorb the water, so it formed a natural pool that lasted a few hours. We liked to "bathe" there.

In the middle of that courtyard, I remember there was a mango tree that fell with heavy rain. There was also a lemon tree and some decorative ones. I loved that patio and I think that it gave immense peace to everyone who was there.

I also carry with affection in my heart, the occasions when my cousins visited me. Some lived in the same urbanization, others in Maracaibo and the farthest ones lived in other states of Venezuela.

We loved to play hide and seek, ride bicycles, play "stop" and of course, we ate lots of candy. Sometimes we girls would get together separately and play at being singers, it is worth mentioning that only one of us would sing, you can imagine the screaming we would do. Our parents were patient in letting us put on our "concerts".

Also carry with affection in my heart, the occasions when my cousins visited me. Some lived in the same urbanization, others in Maracaibo and the farthest ones lived in other states of Venezuela.

One of my aunts had a small store and I can say that she was the one who supplied me with most of the candy in my childhood. She sold "durofrío", frozen yogurt, chocolates, cookies, and all kinds of salty knick-knacks. I remember her as a hard-working woman who chose to do business from home, to see her youngest son always.

She is very important to me and even after almost 20 years she is still in the same house with her small grocery and candy business. I treasure her witticisms and jokes and am amazed at how she has maintained that cheerful character all this time.

Other times that come back to my memory are church gatherings, whether it was Christmas, Mother's Day, or Children's Day, I remember always having a lot of fun. I loved talking to the older people and having them tell me their stories. They could be entertaining and many of their anecdotes have more than once given me the inspiration for some of my stories.

He also played with the other children and we loved every time they had a farm meeting, at the Lake Walk or the amusement park. It was a different experience and forged bonds of friendship that lasted throughout childhood and part of adolescence.

Whether at family or church gatherings, I witnessed at that time how innocence allowed us to create barriers between us. We were so happy and we didn't know it.

Life was so simple and at the same time exciting, because we were discovering little by little the world around us.

I will never forget the happiness of those times because it is something so typical of that age that I don't know if I will ever be able to live it again.

Maybe I will witness it in my daughter when she grows up and experiences those emotions that I lived so long ago. May she live that feeling that made me forget many of my sadnesses and gave me reasons to smile.

I hope you liked my post, you can leave your comments and suggestions at the end of this post. Best regards.

The banner and dividers were made by myself in Canva Pro.

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Spanish

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