Friendly Friday’s back to the future

This time our host Amanda has come up with a fascinating way of looking backward and forward at the same time, and she does it splendidly in her host post. Here is my look back with the help of dad’s amazing photography.

This theme goes together well with Sandy’s Flashback vlog which she has been putting together with the help of our videos and photos. It is almost ready and I’m looking forward to seeing it.

Some of my photos in today’s post will appear in Sandy’s work too but she rejected Richard Hatch and I must amend this urgently. Here he is.

I shouldn’t have googled him. Not only is he dead (died in 2017 at 71), I also saw his latest photos. But he won something, didn’t he? Ah no, the Survivor winner merely shares his name. He did write a book on Battlestar Galactica, so there’s that. If you don’t know, he starred as Captain Apollo in this 80’s series and that’s when I started to love the word “apologize”.

Here are some other bits from my early life. I must congratulate Amanda on how she did this. My memoir and life are a bit… fluffier.

Age 0: I’m born in May 1970 in Yugoslavia as it is hosting and winning its first basketball world championship, on the day it defeats Italy in my hometown Ljubljana. It will win three more games, including the USA, and lose against the Soviet Union. Mom says that I was good and didn’t cry.

Age 1-4: I’m the first child in the broad family. Imagine this for a moment. I’m treated like a miracle everywhere I go. Everybody does what I say: clap, dance, sing. I even crack up my stern grandfather.

I’m read to, a lot. Pippi Longstocking is the norm, Winnie-the-Pooh close second. I will always defend the weak, rebel against authorities, and live as if I had a treasure-chest on top of my closet. Instead of a horse I wish for a dog but I would only get my first at age 29 straight from the trash.

(Click on photos for captions.)

^{All black and white photography: Branko Maksimovič}

Age 5: I conclude my kindergarten. They don’t give us enough to drink. I return home murderous, often with my uncle, until my thirst is quenched. To this day I’m a monster thirsty, or hungry.

Age 6: I start primary school, a year earlier than most. I’m sick a lot. I never catch up with basic maths. Lost skill forever.

Age 7: I get a sister. We all move one floor up from the ground floor which we shared with grandparents and uncle. All is brand new. MY OWN ROOM. It’s green. There is a rocket locomotive hanging on the wall.

Age 5-20 (approximately): Our family spends Augusts in a little village in Croatia in a house with other couples and their kids. There is one common meal at 7pm. Every day one couple does the cooking for all. I learn that the sea and air can transform me into a temporary goddess and when asked what I wish to do in life, I respond: “I wish to live by the sea.” There it is, 1.8 km away. I swam in it yesterday.

Age 13: I realise that a boy in my class, my first crush, is extremely similar to Richard Hatch. At the last reunion before I moved to Italy he was bitter about the fact that so many Slovenian women are moving to Italy. “What if Slovenian mothers didn’t teach us to express emotions?” I replied: “Find a woman who will.”

Age 14: I start high school. I clearly remember thinking that what I wear on day one becomes the norm. So I choose a short blue skirt and a white blouse. In my class there are 35 girls and one boy. Most are so ambitious that they become ministers, ambassadors, top managers and editors-in-chief. One of the girls sticks the compasses into my back at one point. I cut school so that I don’t need to go home with some of them. I’m in my cowboy boots by grade 2.

Age 22: My sister starts the same high school. Since she parties somewhere by the sea, I go to enrol her instead. The kind lady asks me: “So, which second foreign language were you thinking of choosing?” No no, lady, I did all this yet. I’m 22! This is for my sister, but thank you. And I would have never chosen Spanish, you pushed me into it!

For Friendly Friday Photo Challenge hosted by Amanda at Something to Ponder About: Look Back to the Future

This day in my blogging history

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  2016: Rare Slovenian sights

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  2018: A compilation of reflections from Slovenia

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  2020: August 2019 in 20 images

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