Memories of Childhood

Those days were real good. I used to get down from the school bus at around 1:45PM. It used to be blazing hot during the summer with temperatures touching 50 degrees. But be it the blazing summer or incessan rain she used to wait for me there.....My mom. We used to walk the 5 minutes home and i used to talk most of the way about what interesting had happenned at school. Each day the topic was different. Sometimes it was about the fun we had while at other times it was about the fights or quarrels. She would patiently listen all the way carrying my bag and the water bottle.
It used to be almost the same time each day. The postman used to make his daily rounds and i would ask him if we had any letters. I was too young to recieve any but the fact that my dad or mom had recieved a letter used to somehow thrill me.
Once home i would open up the sports page and read through it. I think that i was addicted to sports from an early age. My mom would have a hard time pushing me to take a bath before we sat down for lunch. Again the stories and discussions of the day ensued. Invariably half way into the lunch my dad used to call to enquire whether i had reached home and i would rush up to pick up the phone. I would tell him anything i felt he needed to know or was important enough ( though now i realize that the definition of important varies drastically with age). Then as always he used to tell me about the best dish that mom had cooked that day. Actually my mom is a wonderful cook and my dad a connoiseur of bengali food. I used to return to complete the rest of my lunch. Still today i consider mom to be the best cook i have seen( sorry to be biased about this)
Time to sleep. I used to ask mom to call me up at a particular time depending on the appointment time i had with friends ( for evening games in the local field). By the time i got home dad was back. i used to freshen up have complan and snacks and sat down to study. My dad would join me. Ohhh man .....he was really regular. 6:30 to 8:30 was serious study time - homeworks, preparation of exams whatever depending on the needs.
My father believed in regularity and i guess that has always helped me later on in life. He had the energy to make me study, check my homeworks, correct my practice work and teach me new lessons. Now when i get back from office and hate to cook food that too for myself i realize what a pain he had taken for me all those years.
Dinner time by 9:00 and then i would get to watch TV perched comfortably between my mom and dad for about half an hour. Then time to pack my bag for school the next day. Dad used to read out the routine and i would put the books and the notebooks in. It used to be a mess when on certain days i realized i had to complete some work or had to memorize some poem for class the next day. I had to complete it though and my parents both used to sit by me till i was done.
Then off to sleep with mom and dad. Dad is real quick when it comes to sleeping off. But i would be awake for a while chatting with mom before dozing off snugly in her arms.
I guess each one of us have such fond memories and i hope my children are as lucky to get the same love,attention and quality time from their parents as i have. Its really the time children need parents the most.