The comforts of your previous home {previous life}

As adults, I think we forget about the lives we used to lead.  We forget how we became who we are.  Let our memories get cloudy about the details of growing pains and heartache.  Our walks down memory lane are spurred by songs or smells.  Usually wrapped in a holiday or a vacation.  Sometimes brought to life by our own children.  I got this opportunity, or should I say blessing last week.  
Its been 17 years since I called the Salinas Valley home.  As my memory likes to serve, I didn't really like the place.  It was boring.  Always cloudy.  It smelled like broccoli.  It was a dirty little, cold and windy Ag town.  That's what I've been telling myself for 17 years.  
Then something magical happened.  I started taking my girls to the places where I grew up.  The tiny corner of beach at Lovers Point.  The sea filled air on Cannery Row.  The fish filled thrills of the Aquarium.  And to the Wharf, wafting with salt water taffy and caramel corn.  As soon as those scents and sights hit my memory, I remember just how much I loved that place.  That place that was once home, and is now a beautiful and blessed walk down memory lane.

Little giggles as they look towards the sea.

Historic streets and clam chowder samples.

Calamari frying, taffy pulling, caramel corn cooked to perfection.

Cloud free skies and clear blue sea.

The air seasoned with salt.

Taking a moment to remember everything that's good about home.

Indulging in a book that you should have read years ago.

A book about a place you love.

The first page describes everything you feel,

Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem,

a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, 

a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.

Tiny treasures that bring great joy, not just to you but to little faces.

Shells so small they seem impossible.

Glass made perfect by the sea.

Rocks once lost now found.

Picnics on the beach.

Cuddled up with those you love.

Why didn't I take advantage in my youth?

I'm sure I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I do now.

Fun with cousins who we don't see enough.

Getting buried in the sand.

Sand in pockets and sand in hair.

What childhood memories are made of.

California Dreaming on a luke warm day.

Sandy fingers and toes.

Sweet dreams little one, of the sea, of the sand, of lovely moments,

just like these.

Hand fulls of sand into buckets while we sit seaside.

Getting dirty and no one cares.

Not even mom, and that's a first.

You needed a flag for your castle, so grandpa gave you a feather.

Which is just your style.

And suddenly you are not a baby anymore.

So as mommy walks down memory lane, you one day will too.

Days filled with sand and sun and salty air.

Days filled with burgers with a side of grit, and cookies

that are stolen by sea gulls.

Days that are treasured and cherished.

To remind you of the comforts of your previous life.

And to remind mom of her previous home.

The winner of last weeks Mrs. Mama giveaway is: Kellie Wilson!