My object is my Dad’s harmonica.

​

He didn’t really give it to me, same as my mum really . . . I just sort of got it cos he wasn’t there anymore. Because my Mum doesn’t do music or anything, it just sort of came to me . . . and
just became mine. 

​

I’ve chosen this object cos it’s the one that I can best tell a story about, and that is that when I was quite young, my Mum made a film. Its called 6 Goats and it’s where she has filmed . . . 6 goats basically lying down and then she has drawn around them. Then in the background he is, my dad is, just playing the harmonica . . . this one. He was just sort of playing it and I think he must have just added it onto the film. But that is mainly what I know about it. I don’t know much more of that time when it was played. 

​

It is kind of like my Dad because it’s music, and that’s kind of what he was. He just did . . . music basically. Like Mum said again, he just played music all the time and that’s all. 

​

Kind.
Funny.
Strong (like my Mum said).
Helpful. He always helped people.

​

I do use my harmonica but hardly ever. I sort of forget I have it cos I normally just keep it somewhere hidden and safe. I lose most of my things, so it always gets covered up with other stuff, but when I do find it I’m always sort of like, ooh I can play this! So I do use it, but not much. 

​

When I think of my Dad, the first thing I think of is probably. . . his hair. Or the way he talked; I always used to correct him cos he used to say bath, but I would always shout at him it was barth. And then my mother would say bath and I would say barth, and then it would swap round. So that’s probably what I think of. The way we pronounced things differently. 

​

If I could say one more thing to my Dad, it would be that I like playing music but it might not be what I do in . . . when I’m an adult and when I have a job and things.

​

I used to go to a sort of play group thing, it was called Play Group and we made stuff there and once I made a stop and go sign from a road. And when I got home, my Dad was eating something, like a scone or something, and I just kept on swivelling the stop and go sign round and every time it was stop, he would stop chewing and every time it was go, he would carry on chewing. So that was happy. But also probably the biggest memory I have is of when he went to work one day and I was at home with my Nan. And I had this old football pitch and like made the ball go round and played it against someone else. And we took this, and got all my old teddy bears and put them on the sofa and used all my little plastic toys in the pitch, and when he came, we made a big sign . . . can’t remember what it said, but when he came home there was just this football match waiting for him. So that is very happy, especially with his face when he walked in and saw the massive sign in the way. And I don’t think I have any more really happy memories of him. Not that I can think of straight away.