Celebrations and memories

Today is celebration time, my little niece, Scarlett, she is 8 today-party time. We will be all together, the whole family. Eating, drinking and being merry-life is far too short not to enjoy it . These are such wonderful moments and times. Makes me think back on my numerous birthdays as a child, and my later years and one thing becomes crystal clear-many are never  happy where they are in life-when we are young ,we want to be an adult, when we are adults we want to be children again. You take photos-you say-“God how awful is that” .Then years later you see the same photo and say, ”Boy-I looked just great”. This is human nature-one has to learn to appreciate the present and be grateful for everything-even if one is in a bad situation , it could always be worse.

It is like the story where a man was complaining he had no shoes, then he saw a man with no legs, and realized how lucky and blessed he was. We should remind ourselves often about this story.
 

Though one memory comes back to me very strongly from many years ago-on my 16^th birthday I was at my school dance-and I was in the cloakroom and was fixing my hair-the girls around me were chattering about boys, and discussing their dresses and the night and –I looked at myself in the eye-in the mirror and thought-how great it is to be 16- I want so very much to stay 16 forever. I remember that precise moment, exactly down to what I was wearing to the last detail, how my hair looked and how deeply happy I was with myself, with life.
 

I have to admit-I have always been conscious of the moments I am in, and even more conscious of the moment passing; so I had or even now I have a special method almost like taking a mental photograph of the moment and trying to set it onto the screen of my mind. It is much easier these days because you can actually take a picture of everything anytime-and believe me I do. Many thousands-yeah, crazy I know; but what else is left of the moment? 
 

Often on special occasions people as well as family will ask, what would I like-often my answer is always the same- I`d love a piece of rock, stone, pebble or just a piece of driftwood  or a shell with a personal message or simply just the date on it-this what memories are made of. It means so very much to me-the material never does, never did.

This is how I treasure my special moments in life-in this is the way all is filed away in my heart, mind and soul.