It’s magical how a song has the ability to quantum leap you
back to a long-forgotten time and place in life.
David Gray’s Sail Away
has me lounging on a pier in the Mediterranean sun somewhere over in the Greek
Islands waiting for the ferry in 2002, the Poques followed us around Ireland on
a rainy bus trip which, apart from the Blarney Stone, seemed to beeline all the
pubs. Then there’s the dreaded Closing
Time song, which signaled lights-on and therefore ending many a fun night
at The Outback during uni days in Hamilton circa 1996.
Rewind further back to 1988 with the release of
one-hit-wonder Tiffany’s song over the summer holidays and us aerobics instructors
dashing back to school in our fluoro gear and crowding round the ghetto blaster
choreographing a new routine.
But it’s not just songs that can trigger nostalgia. It may
be clinging onto an outfit unworn for decades because it signifies a time in
life you’re not ready to let go of, a rediscovered, long-forgotten meatloaf
recipe associated with the bach or it could be a menial task, like pulling
weeds.
I was crouching down doing just that over the weekend, prior
to mowing, when I was taken right back to yesteryear to my nana’s red-brick
Kensington house. My dad would mow his mother’s lawns once a fortnight and us kids
would go along to help. We would take turns each time rotating the jobs of
weed-pulling from all the places the mower couldn’t go. One of us would be out
the front, the other out the back, another emptying the clippings into the
compost. We knew our roles and it went like clockwork.
As I pulled my own weeds some thirty years later, I could
still smell the grass clippings, mingled with mown feijoas and feel the twigs
scratching at my face from nana’s mossy lemon tree as I dived under grabbing at
errant foliage.
I don’t even remember if there was any money involved but,
afterwards, there was always a cup of tea or coffee for dad and a cold drink
for us and some (probably stale) biscuits.
We didn’t complain about the work, it was just a given. Try
that on this generation!
My kids are likeable, resilient and well-mannered children
but, like most of their peers, quite accustomed to instant gratification.
They have their routine chores and I sometimes write up a
list of extra outdoor jobs I need help with if they want the option of earning
pocket money. When they’ve taken on the responsibility, I have watched their
faces and attitudes transform as they feel that sense of satisfaction and
self-worth in achieving a physical job and actually earning their money.
The twins recently had a birthday and, as well as numerous
gifts, received sums of money from generous reles on both sides. Now,
when asked to take on a job they say they don’t need the money because they
have loads. When there’s something they want, they know they can buy it. It’s
the never-ending birthday and the end of getting any help with chores.
In my eyes, as well as accumulating a lot of stuff, among a myriad of other problems,
instant gratification can lead to raising adults who have no qualms banging
purchases on credit cards, thereby living in debt. And many an elderly person
will tell you that, at the end of the day, it is not money and possessions that
bring long-term happiness: “We enter the world with nothing, we leave the world
with nothing” – but the experiences and memories.
I was pondering this as I pulled weeds wondering why my kids
weren’t out helping me, when I had another flashback: the stripy old bank books
we would take to school to do our banking in the 80s and possibly the key to
good old-fashioned delayed gratification.
My children’s bank accounts have sat dormant since they
discovered the instant thrill of purchasing. I rehearsed a pitch, which I
delivered to them later that day and was surprised by the response: They
readily agreed to bank the remainder of their birthday money (although Miss
Nine worked out the exact amount she would need left out to buy a Smiggles
watch!)
So with their money safely in the bank and some tough-love
on my part, I can now re-focus on turning out hard-working self-fulfilled
providers who, rather than building up an empire of easily-acquired possessions,
will hopefully be building precious memory banks to their own soundtracks.