Κ - Λ - Μ

My... third birthday, apparently

My brother and sisters might want to kill me when they find out about this... They know nothing about the blog yet. A little tang of well-deserved revenge perhaps, because they've always been picking on me. I was the little one, as you can see.

Do you know why I hate that dress my eldest sister is wearing on this picture? Well, because all three of us had the same one. But this is not the only reason. When I couldn't fit in mine anymore, I got to wear my sister's V dress, and when I grew up a little more, I got to wear my sister's C dress. So I've been wearing the "same dress" for ages and this is the reason I haven't forgotten it, this is the reason I hate it so much. I've inherited their clothes all my life, I still do... History keeping repeating itself, we have also been saving and giving each other our children's clothes, so there is the same kind of heritage between cousins.

I can't be too sure this picture was taken in Brussels but the fact is that I was about that age when we moved to the capital and when my paternal grandfather travelled to Belgium to visit us. No grandma here, she passed away when my father was little. I have recollection of the first kindergarten I was going to and I also remember clearly the day when my father took us all four to another school for the first time, when we had moved in another "commune". I must have been four or five then and at the time, there were still classes on Saturday mornings as well.

My parents were both working so we were often alone at home when back from school. Not completely alone really, bossy C was in charge, always patronising the younger ones. My brother N is two years older and also a Virgo. We sisters are still jealous of his beautiful grey-blue eyes. Being very close, N and I formed the team that would always try to pick on the elder one, formed by V and C. They are respectively four and six years older than me, this was a huge difference between us girls when we were younger. Can you imagine what a 10 year old girl can do with a 14 and 16 year old? Plain nothing, apart from fighting all the time, of course, especially since we had to share the same room.

We lived in the same apartment for about 13 years before my sisters left, then my mother died, my brother and I moved out later on, then V moved back... The few who had remained moved out once and for all around 1985 I think. I have sooooo many memories there that I often pass by that house, which is not far from my current place. This commune in Brussels is actually "my home town". Passing by E.F. Street makes me recall, in random order:

• the best friend I used to spend a lot of time with, the one who graciously shared her many books and toys with me (God bless you A, wherever you may be);
• all the kids who lived in that part of the street and our get-togethers in gangs, the games we played, the walks we took, exploring further neighbourhoods;
• the historic moment when man walked on the moon;
• the day I learned to drive a bike;
• the first boy who kissed my lips on the doorstep;
• a great deal of my mischiefs....

Handsome brother N has never left Brussels, V married an Englishman and lives in England, C married a Scotsman and now lives in California. Me? Pah... you don't want to know, really...