memories of marbles

[deird1]

Yesterday was a day of nephew-sitting. It ended with an exciting festival, rides, exhausted but happy boys, and sunburn. It started with... marbles.


Caleb wanted to "play marbles". A game with very few actual rules, because he's four. It mainly involved getting out Mum's marbles and dropping them down a chute thingy.

The thing I found interesting, though, was how nostalgic I got. You see, these marbles were my marbles, back when I was in primary school.


It's funny - I haven't thought about those marbles in over fifteen years, but the moment I saw them it all came flooding back, and I could instantly remember what they all were, which ones were best friends, which ones were secretly pearls or magic portals, which ones were mean, which ones I'd had for ages and which ones were new, and what flavour the new ones were.

...by flavour, I don't mean to imply that I ever tasted them. But I still knew precisely what flavour they were. It took me most of yesterday morning to realise how I knew: it's because they look like Chuppa Chups, and have flavours that correspond to the various flavours of Chuppa Chup I'd eaten. It made sense at the time.



Childhood is weird.

Comments

[jl_in_the_lane.livejournal.com]

...these marbles were my marbles, back when I was in primary school.

Are you sure? They weren't mine? Or did I pass them on?


... I could instantly remember what they all were, which ones were best friends, which ones were secretly pearls or magic portals, which ones were mean, which ones I'd had for ages and which ones were new, and what flavour the new ones were.

No mean ones. Just boring ones. Or scarier ones. Flavours - no. Pearls, jewels - yes. Friends? No.

Magic portals?

ABSOLUTELY.

[deird1]

Some of them were yours, yes, and got added to my collection. But some of them were definitely bought for me. I could even tell you which ones...

[goldenusagi]

I could instantly remember what they all were, which ones were best friends, which ones were secretly pearls or magic portals, which ones were mean, which ones I'd had for ages and which ones were new,

Ha, this is me. My dad had a ton of marbles when he was a kid, and when I was a kid, he gave me some of them. I never actually played marbles with them, I just kept them in a little box and played with them. Some were sparkly and some were not, and some went together and some didn't. And I would group them up and I had my favorites, etc, and I still have them all in a box somewhere.

[jnb71976.livejournal.com]

I loved marbles as a girl too. Mine had names and relationships and entire life stories. I wish I still had them but I think they got consigned to a yard sale when my folks moved out of our childhood home.

Marbles play a small role in the story I'm working on for Seasonal Spuffy, so they've been on my mind.

[urania_calliope]

I love finding old toys because of this. I love how you can pick up an old toy their entire universe comes swirling back to you. If that's not magical I don't know what is.

[guy-who-reads.blogspot.com]

That sounds like an odd way to look at marbles, from my point of view. Marbles, in my childhood, were a critical element in the game of the same name; a game with highly formal rules involving shooting marbles into a hole or "pot". There was a strong element of wagering involved (which school officials hated). Marbles had high symbolic value and a fairly fixed exchange rate - marble which looked like one thing were worth more or less than marbles that looked like something else; size mattered too (bigger was better, but smaller than standard was highly valued also).

[a2zmom]

What a lovely pirce. It's incredible how somwthing can just bring on a rush of memories long forgotten.