Magic Moments

Sometimes in life we wait around, looking forward to better or more exciting days ahead.  In so doing, we miss special little moments that happen along the way.  One of the main reasons that my blog is called Living Life is because I want to make sure I don’t miss the little things.  I want to live life to the full even on normal, run of the mill kind of days.  This last week has been packed full of all different kinds of ‘one off’ moments.  I’ve lived them, enjoyed them and have tucked them away in my memory bank to be savoured over and over again.  I’ll share them with you and maybe they’ll cause you to recall similar moments that you are thankful to have tucked away. 

Having four kids, it can be a challenge to have quality one-on-one time with each of them individually so these moments have to be snatched when and wherever they can.  My eight year old and I were in the car together as I was driving him back to school after a dental appointment one day last week.  We started talking about the TV episode where Mr Bean goes to the dentist.    Before we knew it, we were both in hysterics.  There are few things in life that are lovelier than finding common ground with your child and sharing that moment of laughter together. 

 On Wednesday, I had a special day out with my Dad and Mum.  Being from such a large family, it’s rare that I have time just with my parents.  I sometimes forget that as I am growing up and taking care of my own family, my parents are growing older.   I totally enjoyed just being in their company; chatting as we were in the car, having coffee, wandering around beautiful gardens, walking in the Derbyshire countryside and having lunch together.  It is a day that I will cherish always and I’m determined to create a few more of these special days out. 

I picked my three year old up from nursery one day last week and as we drove home, she was singing with the music that was playing in the car.  She was singing along to Bruno Mars’, ‘Just the way you are,’ and she was word perfect and extremely tuneful ‘for a three year old’.  We pulled into the driveway but the song wasn’t finished so I just turned off the ignition but left the radio on and we sat together, singing away until the song ended.  As the song ended, I turned to her and said how beautifully she sang.  She beamed at me.  It was one of life’s small but magic moments that made me feel all warm and fuzzy. 

The next little moment was certainly more planned but no less special.  The Olympic torch was due to come through our city and I had been deliberating all week as to whether I would take the kids to see it or not.  I knew I really wanted to but it would be a bit of a hassle.  In the end, I thought, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’m going to make this happen.  So, at 5pm on Friday afternoon, I bundled my three younger kids in to the car along with a friend’s nine year old daughter who was sleeping over and headed into the city.  We parked up and headed to the market place.  I have never seen the streets so full of people.  The crowd was up to ten rows deep in places and we took our spot, about eight rows back from the marked off route.  We waited about an hour and then the crowd started waving and cheering excitedly; the runner went past with the torch held high.  Was it worth three hours of our time to get in, wait and queue and then head out of the city; just to see the Olympic torch being held aloft for the thirty seconds that it was within our view?  You betcha! It can now be a lifetime memory for my kids and that’s something that you can’t place a value on. 

To round the weekend off, there was an outdoor concert and firework display in the park.  The weather forecast was dodgy to say the least and I wasn’t sure how close we’d be able to park to the venue; but I thought we’d go anyway.  Despite a huge downpour as we made our way from the car to the park and moaning from my teenager that she wanted to go home, we stuck it out and set up camp with other family members and friends.  If we actually let the weather stop us in this country, we’d hardly ever do anything.  We had raincoats, umbrellas and a mini tent for the kids to sit in and we had a marvellous time.  We, along with 20,000 other people, enjoyed an evening of good food, fresh air (mixed with a few raindrops), music and fireworks.  We sung ourselves dry as the fireworks faded away to the strains of ‘Land of Hope and Glory.’ What an awesome year to be living in Britain! Such wonderful moments for all of us to cherish.  Did it matter that we were almost the very last car to make our way out of the car park and arrive home not long before midnight?  Not a jot! These are the evenings where memories are made.

 I encourage you to enjoy the special little moments that happen  each day and every now and then, make the effort to plan so that some of the bigger moments can happen. Continue loving living life!