Happy New Year!

Nostalgia is a beautiful thing. It’s reminiscent tendrils are found in the many nooks and crannies of our minds. But most of the time, nostalgia needs a catalyst to appear.

It’s 2002. I’d just come home from a tiring day at work. I’m a high school teacher. Biology. My husband greets me at the door, surprising me with the news that he’s gotten a job in Singapore. As we celebrate over dinner, he tells me he needs to relocate soon. Without much warning we decided to take a trip to Amsterdam.

It was a rather rushed affair, but we realised even while living in England we really hadn’t travelled in nearby Europe. In Amsterdam we visited a flower market. We picked up a bunch of beautiful tulips, which I now correlate with our happy memories there.

I’ve made these crochet tulips as catalysts for my nostalgia. Catalysts to bring back memories from a last minute trip. Truth be told, we might have never gone on that trip had my husband not had to move to Singapore. We thought we had all the time in the world to see Europe. But if there is one thing that 2020 has taught me, it is that all the time in the world doesn’t exist. So in the new year, I urge you all to do the things you’ve always wanted to, before the tendrils of nostalgia snake in. Happy New Year!

My husband at the flower market in Amsterdam

My handcrafted crochet tulips!