The Cottage Memories (For Sale)

Today I went with my dad and some potential buyers to our cottage. No working on my book, no formatting, nuking the Word document, no indents, headers, footers, page numeration and section breaks. Just a beautiful sunny day in the countryside. 

After such a long time. Two years? I stopped counting.

It's been a while since I was last here. In my childhood oasis. Summers belonged here. With my grandparents, with my mom and dad during our holidays, with my cousin, my uncle and my aunt, my countryside friends.

I spent days, weeks, months here. Years! I spent scorching heats and windy summer storms in Tuhelj. I spent the snow, bitter cold and sledding down the hill. I remember the laughter, the tears, the happiness of a carefree child, the pain of my parents' fights and injustice I did to the ants, wasps and butterflies I was catching in the fields dotted with wildflowers because of their beauty.

Memories came rushing in a torrent, every single detail I saved and stored in the memory space of my subconscious, just to be visited and reopened in the future for the later use. When I am ready for reminiscence.

Now I am selling it. I am selling my past, my childhood and my history, and I am very determined about it. I sell what I loved, the place that affected me deeply and so many times scratched and blooded my arms, my legs, my knees. I am selling everything but my memories because it's time to move on.

The past remains in the grass full of  the crickets and various bugs, the smell of flowers, hay and summer evening bonfires, roasted corn and potatoes, the song of the birds in the crown of the trees and the hum of the wind through the woods and the unmowed meadow.

I am closing the chapter about the childhood place in Zagorje countryside, less than an hour drive away from the Croatian capital Zagreb. No regrets because all I need remains with me. It is time for something new.

At the same time, it can be a nice new start, a new page for somebody else. The new beginning with  new opportunities. If you think this might be the right place for you, shoot me a message!

In the meantime, enjoy the photos I took today during this brief trip down memory lane, on May 1, 2017, and posted here. I know my colleague Sara Sara will!

Bernard Jan
www.bernardjan.com

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Photos by Bernard Jan