Echoes 2014

Echoes 2014 ©

By

Michael Casey

I’m listening to Peace by the Eurythmics  as I talk to you, now that album in itself is an echo, I didn’t  know I was going to mention it, till a second ago. Peace by the Eurythmics is a great big echo the more I think about it. I took it to Shanghai with me when I went there to meet my future family.

After my visit I was “forced” to leave it in Shanghai as proof that I would not forget my future wife. She came back to me after she had told her family all my bad points, and now we are married with children, 14  years on, and I still play that album.

I’ve just popped to the kitchen to make some green tea, and brie on biscuits  for my daughter and me, I passed the mirror on the way. Another echo jumped out, my bright orange Polo with a polo picture on it. This is my normal attire around the house, but there is also a big laugh attached to it. Rumplestiltskin to be precise.

We were in Coral Springs Florida in 2006, visiting the wife’s uncle, we also went to Sawgrass Mills. This is a linear shopping mall that seems to go on forever , great food and even greater shopping. Now in one shop there was a Polo sale, Ralph Lauren, so obviously I took a look, as did the wife. The wife is extra small and I’m extra large, yes opposites must attract.

She got some nice things and I spotted these bright orange  Polos with a polo match printed on it. Now at the checkout the sales girls were data collecting, so obviously this was too much temptation.

So I told them my name was Mr Michael Rumplestiltskin, and I gave them a fake address too. I was on holiday and they wanted my name, rank and serial number, for marketing purposes.      Mr Rumplestiltskin was my reply. So the girl asked me to spell it. R U M P L E S T I L T SK I N  I spelt it out. And no, she was serious, and I did keep a straight face. My Shanghai wife didn’t know Western Fairy Tales then so she was bemused as  I spelt out my name. The checkout girl, had no idea she was being teased.

So that’s another echo, another memory. Tomorrow is another echo, but much much more. It marks 18 years since my mother died. Pause.

I can remember the last time I saw my mum alive, she was standing in front of the fridge with her blue smock on. Always feeding us. Though I feel no sadness for her, she and my dad made me the man I am now. So their love and values echoes and resounds through me, and the next generation, my 2 Chinese/Irish daughters.

There are many things that remind of things from the past, the good and the bad, the hope and despair, the agonies and the joys. In the end though the echoes and ripples from the past are just that echoes and ripples. We go forward to the future and all else is left behind.