But Why Not?

As writing was recommended to me as a way of self-reflecting and as a tool in dealing with lots of personal issues, which I will wright about every single one – no matter if I find it difficult or not.

But it was also suggested to me that for every memory/event I didn’t want to write about or simply wanted to forget even happened, I should wright about something positive, something that made me happy and more importantly, something that would make me laugh every time I remember it.

That being said, there is a looooong list of stories to follow after the “The first encounter”, but as advised from, let’s say my medical advisors, (which I have quite a lot of them right now), before continuing to dig deeper in the experiences I wish never happened to me, I should remember the “the good times”.

So this is what I’m doing now. Remembering when only “now” existed and the word “worry” was still mainly in my mums’ vocabulary. Not that I didn’t know what it means, of course I knew, I just couldn’t even grasp the concept how she could be worried about this and that…

What could possibly go wrong, right?

As a parent now, every time I remember one of my “what could possibly go wrong?”, “but why not?” or “I know what I’m doing, mum!” adventures there is only one thought that comes to my mind – my mum is tough, I mean really, really, tough. She managed to keep me alive and never ever raised a hand on me. Well, of course, there was lots of shouting, but in her defence I can only say that every single day throughout my childhood, I tested her in every way you can imagine without even trying.

Although, the memory I have in mind right now it’s funny mainly to me, if you ask my mum she would describe it in a completely different way and she won’t be laughing…

Not even a bit.

I had a very colourful childhood with memories that most of my family wish didn’t happen, but I’m so glad they did.

As a family we have been through some difficult times too, but I was just a child and only now I can understand how difficult those times must have been for my parents. But let’s stick to the happy times now, the difficult once can wait at least for the next half an hour or so…

So every time I think about some of the those “happy” times I can laugh for hours or it just simply puts a smile on my face when I’m really down.

Just thinking about it now I am trying to imagine how my mum managed to keep her cool but as I said – she is tough!

Only after what will follow below I was allowed to enter our apartment after a very meticulous search – as if you are going through security to catch your flight – not joking here, I’m completely serious. I had to show that all of my pockets are empty – back and front, clothes (even my sleeves), shoes, lift my t-shirt, everything, sometimes she even made me take of my shoes and checked my socks.

I know it doesn’t look right to ask a child to lift its t-shirt, but I can assure you my mum was doing it only to make sure that me and everyone else in our family, would be safe at home.

If my mum had any doubt, while watching me presenting my empty pockets, as I was getting more and more inventive and smart on how to “hide” or “smuggle in” whatever I wanted into our home, she conducted the search on her own, but being very careful as she never knew what I might have being trying to “smuggle” in.

Sounds crazy, right?

Not if you ask my mum, trust me.

My dad was amused at first but after I “crossed the line”, as he said it, he was not amused at all too.

Only my brother remained amused, even participated to some extent, but kept his distance when he wasn’t feeling like participating in some of my, let’s say… “adventures”.

This is how my mum now could get a job as an Airport Custom Officer or a Border Security Officer or anything that involves “searching” and preventing “smuggling” any time she wants.

I trained her well.

When we were kids my parents took us on countryside trips every weekend, or almost every weekend, either on our own or with other family friends. Sometimes for mushroom foraging, sometimes just for a picnic and, of course, the main purpose - to let us knock ourselves down by running around like crazy all day long so we can all sleep peacefully in the evening (which now I fully understand…).

Before I continue, I should provide more details in order for me to try and “paint the picture using all available colours and shades”, specifically about myself, but for the rest of my family too.

Since I can remember I was always drawn and fascinated by all leaving creatures. And I really mean ALL.

Or at least the once that wasn’t fast enough to escape from me.

Especially lizards, snakes, snails, frogs, crabs, anything basically. But lizards and snakes were and still are my favourite. They just truly fascinated me (back then to my mums’ horror) and they still do (now to my husbands’ horror). Don’t know why, no one thought me anything about them, no one else in my family have the same affection towards these beautiful creatures so It’s still a mystery to me why I’m drawn to them so much.

My mother, on the other hand, would never touch a snake, probably lizard, but that’s debatable. She is not scared of them and if needed she will deal with them (which would mean killing them) with no panic or screaming. I’ve seen it so when she means “business”, she is not messing around! She just couldn’t even stand the thought that they could touch her skin, it was just revolting to her and it still is. My father didn’t mind them, well, most of them, but from a distance – he’s more like a dog or a cat person – but he could never harm any living thing, he would just move out of the way, no touching and killing is completely out of the question.

My older brother is somewhere in between or I’d say he enjoyed watching how my mum and dad how they tried to “handle” my “fascination”. And, same as my father, he wouldn’t harm a living creature – only my mum could handle the “killing” part.

My dad and brother would prefer to run away if they can and if they couldn’t, they would “shriek in a manly manner” so either me or my mum could deal with the situation.

Now that I briefly introduced my family preferences towards reptiles, insects, etc., which had to be done, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to describe one of my favourite memories. Memory that makes my mum shiver in disgust every time we bring it up.

You might be getting an idea of what’s coming next and probably you won’t be far in your guessing, but I bet what I did would never even cross your mind. Unless, of course, you really, truly, love reptiles…

So, on one of those trips, I’m not sure how old I was but it was defiantly around me starting school – so I’d say around 6 or 7-ish, while my mum was unpacking on a beautiful meadow in the early summer for us to have a picnic, and my father was working on getting the fire started, I ran around exploring everything I saw. I would turn stones so I could see what kind of creatures lived there, then do the same in the shallow river to check for frogs or crabs or anything – it was all incredibly beautiful to me.

Especially if I could catch it.

While observing quietly the shallow river – there is always something to see, you just need to have the patience and the eyes to see it – I saw “them”.

I froze totally fascinated by their beauty. I knew that if I move, even just a bit, I’ll scare them off, so I kept staring at them completely immobile. I knew from experience that to catch those beauties you need to be really fast as I have tried quite a few times already on a different occasions, but with no success till that day.

What I didn’t know was that they were not just enjoying the sun on a rock surrounded by shallow water, and most importantly – as I later found out – it was mating season for them.

Ok, I’ll break the suspense – I was staring at two very big, brightly green lizards on that rock. What I didn’t know was that their instinct for survival was not on the top of their list, well at least the one that would kick in to prevent capture. Simply said – it was mating season for them as I learned later on. I even didn’t know what mating means back then.

Beautiful, isn’t he?

Of course, this is not the same lizard I saw that day – there was no mobile phones with cameras or any cameras for that matter that I could have access to, but you can get an idea how they look like and most importantly – how big they are.

I’ve done my research and it turned out they are really big. I thought they were big only in my childhood memory, but the European green lizard (Lacerta viridis) can grow up to 35cm (including the tale) if male and the female is not as brightly coloured as the male and not as big as male, but still big.

For me this was like the ultimate catch as I’ve never succeeded before. They simply are way too fast even for me. Well, I managed to catch one of these beauties a few times later on, but that day was the first time I actually caught one of them (two of them to be precise).

So after a a minute (probably less than a minute, patience is not among my best qualities...) observing them and planning strategies how to get to the lizards before they outrun me again, I decided it’s time to make e move. I managed to get a bit closer without scaring them of, although the one on the top got his eye on me, but he didn't move (I thought for a second that this looks odd – how on earth the one under will be able to get some sun… but never mind).

When I was close enough I just jump towards the rock putting both my hands over the lizards as I didn’t want them to lose their tails because of me.

And guess what? THIS time I managed!

Both of them were under my hands and I realised they are quite powerful, trying vigorously to wriggle themselves free, but not a chance – I got them!

I had to make a decision how to prevent any chance of escape so I let one of them bite me – that’s a tactic I learned on my own – while they are biting you they are “locking” themselves in whatever they are biting and stay “attached” to it for a few seconds before realising they had chance to escape. In this case I let him bite the side of my palm.

What I didn’t know was that this specific type of lizards had quite a powerful bite. I mean, really, powerful. I knew they are not poisonous and they don’t have teeth, but what I didn’t account for was the fact that they are quite bigger than the rest of my catches with definitely bigger jaws.

But never mind – given the fact I fully deserved it and I couldn’t make a sound as my mum would be wright on me - I took the pain calmly and it left a beautiful bruised print of his bite on my hand, which I marvelled upon until it disappeared. While he was biting me I quickly grabbed the other lizard (the one under...) just below the head (one bite was enough for the day!) and then with a swift move of my wrists I grabbed the one that was still biting me and they were mine!!!