(Picture by yours truly on sketchfu.)
When I was younger, there was a period of time when Autograph books were a hit.
It was a must-have for every 8-10 years old girls. Maybe even some boys.
There includes all the basic information of a person.
The "Autograph" book or the "Slam" book would be like a small notebook with a cover of either Hello Kitty, Tweety or Mickey mouse.
Some notebooks actually have the anime characters cover, which i never had.
In the book there are forms to fill out. Each person who fill that out would have 2 pages on the book.
I still remember the days when we would say to our girl friends, "Hey could you fill out my autograph? I'll fill out yours"
It would seem like our very old version of Facebook at those early times when Internet socializing was not yet made.
First page consists of:
Name, Age, Address, Gender, Favorite Color, Movie, Television show, songs, singer, food, bestfriend, etc.
The information to fill out usually depends on what kind of notebook you have. If you have the simple one,
those are always included on the first page.
The Second page is always, i think, everyone's favorite part of the autograph section.
That page includes these kind of questions:
Define love:
Define crush:
Who's your crush?
Who's your first love?
Who's your enemy?
What are your likes?
What are your dislikes?
What's your motto?
These are the intrigue questions little girls are dying to know because we find it fun to talk about.
Mostly when you borrow a friend's autograph book, you would read the second page of the section first.
Girls, I think it's something that all of us kept to ourselves. The way we want to be asked who our crush is or who's
the boy in class that we think we're inlove with; it just brings out the funny excitement in our pre-puberty minds.
Mostly girls write, "Secret" with a smiley face or maybe just the first letter of the boy's name and then she draws a <3 heart shape around it.
I admit that i once wrote "secret" too. or even the first letter basis.
For the meaning of "crush", I usually wrote, "Crush your head on the wall" or something like that.
Which was supposed to be funny back in those days.
When it comes to the definition of "Love", every girl was excited to write her own cheesy definition.
It's like we have this fresh ideas about love due to the daily information that Fairytales tell us.
I still remember the old cliches:
Love heals and forgives.
Love is Blind.
Love is caring for a person.
Love is poison. Too much will kill you.
Love is being with someone you love.
Love is God
Love is a box of chocolates that you want.
Love is Friendship
Now thinking about it, these definitions of love are actually true.
These are actually the root of where the other definitions of love are coming from. No matter how
simple the words are and how childish and silly they may sound, they are the very phrases that are so full
of the real meaning of what love really is. For Instance, Love is God. Because through the Bible, you
would learn the love of God for you and the Bible has the best definition of Love I've ever seen.
I read this verse in the Bible. It's really beautiful and It's becoming a real famous quote, which is used in many books and
movies, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.
For the very last question on the 2nd page,
"What's your motto?"
The most popular and most common answer is "Time is Gold."
You see, when little kids can't think of anything to write, they just copy off someone else's questions.
Usually Time is Gold is the answer of the older kids back then. Like if you're in 2nd grade, 5th graders would have the
answer "Time is Gold" so you're entitled to do the same with your page.
Children's tendency is to always always always imitate older people.
So "Time is Gold" would seem like a comedic phrase when you grow up to be a teenager.
I always smile or laugh when someone says that cliche overrated quote.
But no matter how overrated it may sound. No matter how childish it may seem, if you analyze that very quote,
its as True as the sky is blue.
I mean, look at yourself. Once you were this little kid playing Chinese garter, Jack's stones or drawing coloring books,
now you're a highschool student like me, nearly graduating from High School or in college.
You were once this timid child in the class who's afraid to speak up. Now you can deliver a speech in front of a crowd.
Once you we're this little girl playing with Barbie dolls and Miniature tea set, now you're going out on dates and parties.
It's as if your childhood days were just a dream. It was like it was just a movie that you once watched.
That's how i feel right now. I can't imagine myself as that little girl playing tag with my friends, screaming and running
and not caring if people were staring at me.
I can't imagine myself sliding down a slope of small land and climbing up to the top to slide once again. Yes, I used to do that after
school. I'd soil my my shoes, legs, hands even my face. My mom would get mad at me for my dirty white socks when i get home.
Back in 2nd grade,
I used to pick flowers in the school garden and plant them up again in a wooden box of soil and say proudly that it's my very own
garden.
My friends and i used to get all the japanese crepe paper, cut them into long thin strips and soak them up in a cup of water in the
girl's bathroom. We would look at our small hands stained with pink or purple dye and then laugh together.
Why we did that, i could never understand.
My point is, Time is a mysterious and amazing thing. Looking back at your childhood life, dont't you wonder how you got to be this old? It's like you didn't even notice. You don't even remember growing older do you?
I mean, its not like were in the grandparents age. But Time really made a difference. It's an amazing thing, isn't it?
What I'm stressing is that, Time is Gold. It's important. It's precious. and once you lose it, you can never bring back time. It goes on
forever and ever. It is irreversible. I know a quote that says, "Learn to appreciate what you have before time forces you to appreciate what you lost."
It applies on every loss that each people encounter everyday. It could be the loss of a precious object that has a sentimental value or
it could be a loss of a precious friend or a lover. Whatever it may be, the things that we lose bring heartaches because we
dearly value them but somehow we failed to show our appreciation. Sometimes we forget to really care for them; we even do the opposite of that.
Indeed, I believe that Time is gold. It is really as valuable as gold.
You see, *Time can heal. It could heal a broken heart or a wretched feeling. Through that healing, we are able to forgive.
*Time is also fast. It's like a when you ride a speeding car, you would only see a glimpse of places and faces along the way.
It does not stop or slow down. It just continues to go on.
It is "Easy come easy go." I still remember old times that i've had with people i met in the past
and it would seem like it was just yesterday that i was with those people. Now i'm on a different track and so are they.
At the beginning of a school year, you would think that it would be a whole new long year. It would seem that
each day would drag and you can't wait for summer. But really, one year is nothing. It'snothing. Before you know it, summer is here and
another school year would start. Time is mysteriously sneaky.
Also *Time would seem pointless to some people. How time really works is the old controversy of many people and their different opinions.
Do you not notice that we are never satisfied of what we have at a certain time?
Students love the summer! At school, all they could think of is summer. When summer comes, they can't wait to go back
to school to see their friends again.
That repeats all over again until the student graduates.
It's like a never ending journey of life to a certain destination that we do not know. People set goals and ambitions for themselves,
and when they reach it, the journey does not stop. Everytime we thought we are comfortable at some place, time would change again,
forcing us to change with it. Time's change is constant.
And so what I'm really trying to say is 'Time is Gold'.
Along with its preciousness, every loss has pain and regrets.
Every bad experience has a lesson learned and a scar marked
and every good times has a memory that could make you smile and cry at the same time.
As for me?
I'd pay big money just to go back in time and cherish what i had because i would lose them.
I would have smiled and laughed more often because there would be worst reasons to frown about.
I wish i should have known how important something is so i would have taken better care of it.
I wish I'd sense when someone is offended and hurt so that i would not inflict bad memories on that person.
I wish i had known when someone needed my help so that i could lessen their pain.
I wish i realized how important it is to forgive a person at once because when you hold grudges, you inflict more pain on yourself
than on other people.
I wish i'd known that there are moments that only passes once in a lifetime, and making the most out of it is the best you can do.
I really wish i would have realized these things sooner.
The things that I keep on reading and rewriting in autograph books were actually the most important life lessons there is. I wish I would have known that earlier.
Now i truly understand why almost everyone believed in it.
Time made me realize all these through simple things like Autograph "slam" books of the 9-year old girl i once was.
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