Moments

I heard a song on the radio at lunch today that started my mental cogs to turning. I took it and drifted into a totally different direction than what the song was saying, but the song was talking about “moments”. In our day to day in’s and out’s it seems we are occasionally brought moments that impress on us for the rest of our days.

I often remember Christmas mornings with all the excitement that came with that day. Sometimes the smell of breakfast cooking brings back those memories. I can look out on fields of hay and remember some special moments shared by my brother and I with our grandpa. Sometimes going across a bridge, I look down on the still waters and see a single boat creating ripples across the surface. That sight takes me back to 100’s of lake memories. Samantha and I’s wedding day, the birth of Allie & Abby, each with their own meanings, and all of which can be triggered by some random thought. In that second it seems you are taken back to another place in time. You can almost feel, and smell the things that were associated with that place in time.

The song I heard had one line that said “like that plane ride, coming back from the war.” Before I knew it I began to think of Nathan and Kara. I also remembered an AP song that spoke about a mother waiting on her son to return from a war. It goes something like this

“Over the ocean the soldier sails, the battle is finally won. His mother is pressed up against the railing, trying to find her son. Suddenly now she sees a face, easy to recognize. It’s been years to wait for the sweet embrace…Holding him as she crys”

I began to think of how exciting these few days must be for Nate and Kara. To see each other for the first time in months since nate has been deployed. All of those firsts they will experience. The first time back home together, their first meal, that first night of sleeping in the same bed instead of being 1000’s of miles apart, etc, etc. I can also picture the first call home to Peggy, saying Mom your sons home safe and sound. All of these moments will quickly fade to memories, but I imagine that these will be some of those “moments” that years down the road will be triggered by a song, or smell, or a thought.

I guess the challenge to you and I is to recognize when one of these moments is taking place, and to cherish it as it happens.