What Lies Behind

By Samantha Molluso

With objects come memories, and with memories come moments in life where in the bluest times, we can dwell upon and sift through the greyest clouds, to reach upon the greatest and brightest of our days as humans. Certain objects we possess allow us to be granted such feelings. In layman’s terms, whether tangible or intangible, things and objects have the power to portray memories.

An expiry date is applied to many amenities in our daily lives, the things we use on a daily basis. Holidays and items purchased on these trips have the ability to possess a great deal of memories which, in effect, allow us to cast our minds back to the better times spent roaming the streets of a foreign country, becoming immersed and cultured in a place far away from home. These items, beside photographs, are the only things that remain after the long flight back home.

My previous holiday experience continually involved purchasing bracelets from different countries and places, to remember the locations and the memories associated with my time there. However, because these bracelets were only made from woven thread and were exposed to natural elements like the sun and seawater, they eventually deteriorated by the time I made it home, and I had to cut them off. By cutting these bracelets off, I felt as though the memories tied to them were also cut. With this came an end to the memories that were compiled in the time I spent abroad in Europe.

Coming home from a long, joyous vacation of fun, freedom and adventures is something everybody dreads, but like all good things they must come to an end. On my dreaded arrival back home, these bracelets and my sun-kissed tan were the two things that were constant reminders of my time away, and I didn’t want them to disappear anytime soon. But as stated previously, good things come to an end and that’s exactly what happened; the bracelets faded and so did my tan. I’ll openly admit that there was a mild case of post-travel depression upon touching ground at Sydney Airport. As much as I was happy and thrilled to see my family waiting at the gates for me, if I was given the chance to run back through the gates and hop on the next flight back to Europe, I would have taken it.

Months go on and as the winter sets in, I look back at the times spent in Europe under the glorious sun. The remaining pieces of the bracelets that I cut off sit on my bookshelf, as a reminder that a good thing had indeed come to an end, however, the memories and feelings associated with the time I spent abroad come knocking again, entering freely into my memory, reminding me that although Europe seems so far now, at one stage, it was a bracelet and a sun kissed tan away.