As I walked through this once familiar street, I was amazed at the changes that made it difficult for me to adapt to the fact that more than 40 years have passed, and it feels completely different to come here again. But when I saw the Catholic church on Daimyo East Street, the memories of my childhood flashed through my mind like a movie, and I felt as if I had returned to that innocent era.
That Catholic church seems to have an indissoluble bond with me. In the early days, there were several rows of bungalows on the west side of the church, where my father's workplace, the Daimyo Prefecture Water Conservancy Bureau. My parents and I used to live in a dormitory in the third row of bungalows near the church. At that time, I was still a childish child, but I had a deep attachment to that place.
I remember that one winter when I was three years old, I first learned about the existence of the solar year, which was called "Xiao Nianxia", or New Year's Day. Although it is not as lively as the Spring Festival, and there are no firecrackers, my parents still prepare new clothes for me. In that solar year, my mother prepared a new set of cotton clothes for me, a cotton jacket with a blue background and pink and white flowers, which were as dazzling as blue and white porcelain. My mother also made the trouser legs and cuffs longer so that they could meet my future growth and development needs. In those days, many mothers would do this, making their children's clothes longer trouser legs and cuffs, hoping that their children would wear them for a few more years.
That day, I put on a new dress, the cuffs were pulled up, revealing a circle of snow-white cuffs, and my hands were folded, like a little young master. Parents are face-savvy people, and when the kids put on their new clothes, they can't wait to take me out the door and show off their accomplishments to my colleagues.
That day, when I heard that I was going to eat dumplings in the canteen, my father took me to the canteen to buy them. The canteen is located in the courtyard behind the fourth row of bungalows, and the west side of the courtyard is the canteen, and the yard ** has a large water tank. The tank was buried halfway underground, only half a meter above the ground, and was tightly held by thick straw. Usually, the water tank is covered with the cylinder head, but on New Year's Day, the cylinder head is not covered.
When my father took me to buy dumplings, I had to stand in line. Just as I was in line, I got out of my father's hand. My father also specifically told me to eat dumplings soon and not run around, but I was always curious about the big water tank. At the moment when my father bought dumplings, I ran to the big water tank, and when I saw that there was a big scoop for scooping water in the water tank, I tried to scoop water with the scoop, but because of my petite body, I stood on tiptoe, and as soon as I made a toe effort, my body instantly lost my balance, and my whole body plunged into the water tank at once.
At this moment, a kind man in my father's unit who was passing by the big water tank saw me fall into the water, and he immediately ran over to me, grabbed my feet and rescued me from the water tank. A child accidentally fell into a water tank in the winter, which alarmed the entire organ compound, and the leaders and comrades of my father's unit came to visit us, and since then I have become famous and loved in my father's unit. This may be what people say about the great calamity that will not die, and there will be a blessing in the future.
Time flies, and now I can't find any traces of that era. However, those fond memories and thrilling experiences will remain in my heart forever. Now I am a gray-haired retiree, but when I think back to the events of that era, my heart is always filled with gratitude and nostalgia. I am grateful for the time that gave me such a wonderful memory and experience, so that I can feel incomparably warm and happy in my life today.