Recently my mum was spring-cleaning the cupboard where she keeps all our old treasures — things from my pre-teen days right up to items that belonged to my three girls when they were babies. She has always been such a careful keeper of memories.
Among the things she found was a stack of flash cards I had lovingly prepared more than 20 years ago. She asked me if I still wanted them, or if she could finally let them go.
I still remember making those cards when Sherilyn was not even one year old and Alycia was not yet two. Back then, I was a very devoted follower of the Glenn Doman Method. I bought the CDs for the girls to watch, made countless flash cards using our laser printer, and would flash English, Math, and picture cards to them while they were being fed. We had live-in helpers then, so while they helped with feeding, I would stand nearby flashing the cards — a young mum trying her very best. 
Every evening, I brought them to the park to run and crawl because crawling, according to Glenn Doman, helped develop the brain. I even invested in a set of the original Glenn Doman flash cards, which were very expensive at the time. I also made personalised storybooks for the girls by printing their photos and writing simple stories in large print to read with them every day.
I continued this with Cass too. She crawled a lot as a baby and even started walking at just 9 months old. However, I couldn’t continue the flash cards with her for long because she had a congenital medical condition and suffered frequent UTIs. We were often in and out of hospitals during those early years.
So today, seeing these flash cards again brought back so many memories of those busy, hopeful, exhausting, beautiful young-mum days. But now that my girls are all grown up and there are no more babies in the family, I’ve decided — with a heavy heart — to finally let them go. 
Some things we keep in cupboards for decades.
Some things we keep forever in our hearts.
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| Mum flashing my homemade cards to Alycia when she was 4+ (year 2008). |
