Remembering Hello Kitty

I never was a fan of Hello Kitty. Growing up, I was all about Sailor Moon and the Power Rangers. Hello Kitty trends never interested me (lunch box sets, plush toys, stationary sets, hair clips). Frankly, I could’ve only cared less about the annoying little fur ball.

Until now, the only two Hello Kitty items I own are the Hello Kitty bedside lamp my cousin gave me during my Elementary graduation years ago. It’s broken now, a sign that I don’t like the commercialized cat (yet, I do appreciate the gift. I still have it by the way).

And the other one, which I thought never existed, is the Hello Kitty photo album that a friend gave me during my High School graduation. I rediscovered this item while I was packing my clothes. The sheer pinkness of it all nearly blinded me.

I stopped packing and stared at the hideously pink (or is it white?) fur ball, as it waved at me, as if taunting me to pick it up and be engulfed in its obscene cuteness. Part of me wanted to feed the retched thing to my dogs and the other part of me wanted to pick it up and skim through its contents.

I picked it up anyway.

Upon opening the album, I was greeted by my old High School pictures. Every page held captured moments that I had long forgotten. As I flipped through the pages, I could have sworn, that somewhere in the background I heard Sandie Shaw croon ‘Always something there to remind me’.

Memories.

Yes, we all have a lot of them – yet, we barely remember all. I only graduated from High School a couple of years ago, however there are certain moments in that not so glamorous stage of my life that have escaped my cerebral cortex and sad to say, these are the tiny events that mean the world to me.

I’ve finished packing. I’ve moved out and into a new place I call ‘home’, away from my parents, away from my home. Away from the old memories and the pink Hello Kitty photo album.

I left the old album at home, and this year I intend to fill a new album. Hello Kitty or not – I don’t care. It’s what’s inside that counts.

I used to worry about forgetting important events, knowing very well that my memory escapes me most of the time. But as Shaw sang in the 1960s ‘How can I forget you? But there is always something there to remind me, always something there to remind me’, I’m glad to own the Hello Kitty album – never mind the fact that it is indeed a Hello Kitty album.

Sometimes, it’s so ironic that something you don’t like that much holds so many precious memories. Perhaps, Hello Kitty isn’t so bad after all