Pause that moment...
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
He called me to keep me awake while I drove home for the holidays. We talked about out hypothetical life together, since we were "just friends" at the time. Our "future" was awesome! Man oh man, I miss that boy.
December 8th, 2008. Calling in to work "sick," and spending the day in bed with the most wonderful person in the world.
Together with all my friends just visiting and sharing love before the grand march of our graduation. Priceless times and meories (:
@honeybeeje Honeymoon in Alaska... unexpected but sounds wonderful nontheless!
Jack Johnson concert.. last year.. perfect summer day surrounded by thousands of happy people and beautiful music. Pure love.
When I went to six flags with my older brother, it was one of the best times that I spent with him before he died.
@icgrayscale - i nod my head at this. also i become jealous in my heart. whilst nodding my head.
Sitting on a beach in the Bahamas smoking a Cuban cigar and drinking Italian wine while watching the sun go down over the waves, all the while conversating about who God is and how ridiculously awkward and diverse the church is.
@EvvAshtangi that's lovely. it reminds me of my first time traveling abroad on my own at 19. I stepped out of the underground station onto a London street, and realizing I had no specific destination, no hotel booked, no friend meeting me, understood for the first time that I was alive, strong, and adventurous.
this thought of capturing moments in an attempt to hold on to them forever occurs to me almost daily when I'm with loved ones, especially my daughter. she is blooming beautifully over these 8 years, but sometimes, I miss her as a baby or toddler or kindergartener, and those "versions" of her are gone.
I know with every passing day she is growing up out of who she is, and while it is exciting to see her blossom, it is all I can do to try to savor every moment of her, knowing that she'll never quite be the same.
And now I'm sobbing out of fear and love simultaneously.
my husband and I were on our honeymoon in Alaska, and each day was better than the one before. The rush of just marrying my best friend, and the beauty in Alaska that I never even imagined, it was more than picturesque.
In 1978, a midnight screening of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" at the Texas Theater on the drag in Austin. Ridiculous nirvana.
A summer sunset in Tuscany with friends and a nice bottle of chianti and the sappy corny feeling I had in high school when a girl I had a crush on came into the classroom and sat next to me.
I could spend the rest of my life listening to my kids stories while we walk holding hands. unfortunately they only hold my hand in parking lots & crossing the street.
a few nights ago i was by myself with the windows down driving on the expressway listening to the shins. i was the only one on the road and my windows were wide open. I wanted to keep driving forever, something about the music and the freedom, it was the perfect remedy for all my troubles.
also when i hug my mom or dad, it can never be long enough. id pause that in a heartbeat.
Midnite in that parking lot so far away, getting to know her. Then again wouldn't that be the Cliché type of thing to say? Ah, I don't care let me be.
can i describe a moment where it felt like time stood still? well, i'm going to anyway...
i had just spent a great evening in ballard (seattle) with 2 friends of mine. one friend was the driver. i had just called "shotgun" so i could ride in the front. the friend i was competing against jumped in front of me and sat in the seat. i remember pleading with him to let me sit there and he just sat there, staring at me. then all of a sudden he broke out into a hysterical fit of laughter (imitating me because i had a case of the giggles) and was maniacally laughing at me. i shook my head no and began to back away while also starting to laugh uncontrollably. i turned around to get away from him but he proceeded to start tickling me. i lost my footing and began to fall backwards, into him, and this is where i felt suspended in the time-space continuum. the "fall" seemed to last for an eternity. i remember my head was tilted back, cackling at the sky, his head rested upon my shoulder, reverberating my laughs in my ear, and his body surrounding mine. our bodies seemed to meld into each other and become one for a moment. at one point i felt like i jumped outside of my physical shell and i was watching us in panoramic motion. a million little photographs trying to capture the essence of that moment. that was one of the most peaceful, surreal moments i've ever experienced. have i said the word "moment" enough yet?
that was definitely
The best moments of my life are when I'm writing and things just click. The words flow and I can write pages, which is a great struggle for me typically. But there's always a problem of time - it's getting too late, I have somewhere to go, etc. I'd want nothing more than to be able to just stop time in those moments and write and write and write until I had nothing left brewing.
A lot to choose from, but I think the one that encapsulates it all: the first time I went abroad, the moment I stepped off the train in Dijon, France. It was the turning point in my life. That was the first time I was introduced to the awe, the inspiration, the challenge, the joy, the beauty, the adventure of the unknown. It was the first time I realized that there was more to life than meets the eye, that there was a great human connection than I had ever understood.
That realization, that second.
Pause.
I've had so many of those in my life. The most recent was the sheer joy I felt watching my daughter stand up, 7 years old, first of all performers, in her school talent show and sing note perfect (after we practiced so much!) "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. I was sitting there with my husband, the tears on both our cheeks as we watched her sing her very first solo. I thought I'd been proud of myself but I've never been prouder than I was of her.
Back in February, one of my best friends and I decided to take an impromptu trip to a small, but wonderful ice cream shop about 20 miles away. As we drove through sleepy towns that Sunday afternoon, the sun turned our faces orange and he sang off key as he drove his little Audi a little too fast down the country roads. The way the sunlight hit his face, the way he looked in his Burberry scarf and worn jeans, but most of all, the way he looked at me and smiled, made me realize that I loved him.
the best (mini)date I ever went on.
simply sitting on an empty golf course watching a sunset, talking.
Moments in time I wished I could pause:
#1 - The first time my childhood crush ever hugged me. I was 12, and we'd just played truth and dare with my brother and his sister, and for some reason I could not comprehend, the kiss on his cheek I gave him had an incredible effect on him. He was in my room with me, and he came from behind as we were going downstairs to eat dinner. He pulled me into a tight, spontaneous embrace but it lasted for a split second because my mom shouted up again that dinner was ready.
#2 - Being in the pool at night with the same childhood crush. He was leaning against the wall and he pulled me close to his side so I could feel his skin against mine. It was the first time I'd ever fallen so hard for a guy, and the setting (being in a pool, at night), the atmosphere... everything felt so magical.
#3 - Fast forward to college - another round of truth or dare where for I kissed this guy I hardly knew and for the first time ever, felt that magic 'connection' from the moment our lips touched. It lasted less than a minute, but the memory of it was seared in my mind long after despite the fact that I was seeing another guy at that time.
#4 - Giving my BBF ("best boy friend") a massage after so long of wanting to show him how I felt about him. We'd had a strictly platonic relationship for two years and we'd never been touchy-feely with each other and always respected each other's personal space. I never thought he could see me the way I could see him - as more than a friend and I had no idea he felt the same way too. That day he told me earlier that he dreamt about us having sex the night before - the first time we ever ventured into such an intimate topic of conversation before. I can't remember how I ended up giving him a massage but I remember the feeling of being able to touch him after so long of holding back how I felt and show him through touch what I couldn't say in words.
This would be amazing in real life.
I would totally go back to the last night I spend with my best friend about a week before he passed away at the age of 21. I think about it constantly. Though there is nothing I could have changed about it, the calmness, the happiness, and just how perfect it was, I would love to share that moment forever.
While at a youth leadership seminar this past month in VA the staff decided to try this out on the students. We did froze without warning at lunch and at the dance. They're reactions were about the same as those on the video. So much fun!
Aw man, that's easy. I went to a youth program at Green Acre Baha'i School last year. It was amazing. I never really realized the power of love till that summer. It was the only place I had ever felt truly accepted. Everyone there loved me and I loved them. I wish it never had to end.
My first kiss with my husband! We met on the internet, so meeting in person for the first time was so nerve wracking. He flew into Seattle and when connected it was instant chemistry. I took him to the first Starbucks ever in Pike Place Market and I said, "Do you like me?" He nodded. I said, "Are you sure?" He said, "Definitely." And so I kissed him! It was such a perfect day- there was this quartet outside singing Huey Lewis and the sun was shining. I wish I could just extend that moment of perfect peace and complete nervousness forever.
Two things come to mind:
- April of 2008. Family vacation to Disneyland. I spent most of the time with my oldest sister (we get along really well). Sure, I was 16, but Disneyland really is the happiest place on earth. I think back and just remember pure bliss. No worries. Away from school, from anything negative. In a place where everyone had a common goal: to have fun. It was warm and beautiful and I would do anything to extend those five days forever. The way I felt is just indescribable.
- It was October 11th of last year. I was in my first relationship. Me and my boyfriend were both incredibly shy and things moved so slowly but I was madly "in love" with him. On this day, he came over to my house. We spent hours in my bed cuddling and laughing and enjoying each others company. It got late and eventually we kissed. Like, really kissed. For the first time. I didn't know that kissing could be so much fun. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was on in the background (and it happens to be one of my favorite shows). A couple of hours went by and we sat up and I fell asleep for a few minutes in his arms. When I woke up, it was a little past two in the morning. I said "Mm, why didn't you wake me up? It's late." And he said "I tried, I played with your fingers and kissed your head. But you were so tired." Then I walked him out to his car in the crisp autumn cold. We kissed goodnight.
It was magical. I'm not with him anymore, he's currently the only boyfriend I've had. I would love to love that night on repeat. <3
Ok, this is silly. The midnight release of the 7th Harry Potter book. So many people, so much excitment. It was the moment that I knew would mean the end of my childhood. I sat up reading it all night; I finished when the sun came up. I read the last few pages, crying, just because I knew that I would never experience the powerful excitment of reading the last book ever again. I know there will be other books, other midnight releases...but the Harry Potter books were smething special. They brought together a generation...and I was part of it. That night, we all were.
Laying face to face with someone new, someone I really really like and having a case of the smileys. Peaceful, beautiful, comfortable. I wish I could go back and just pause that moment for at least ten minutes.
February 13 of this year (a Friday, nonetheless), I drove down to Laguna Beach with my girlfriend to spend a three-day weekend at her family's beach house. Thanks to traffic, we arrived a little later than planned, so we ended up spending the evening tangled up in linens and watching old Jack Lemmon movies. After nightfall, we grabbed supplies--a bottle of wine, some plastic cups, blankets, fresh bread from the best Italian deli back home--and drove their golf cart through the neighborhood and down to a beach.
The night was chilly, clear, and windy, but we had the entire beach to ourselves, so we sat in the golf cart, covered in blankets and poured cabernet into our blue cups and drank it all in. We hadn't been together terribly long (the next day--Valentine's day--happened to mark our first month together), but given recent events, it had been the most blissful, inspiring and all-around happy months I'd lived in some time. We seemed to have found our way into each other's lives at just the right moment; and being someone who's always believed that everything does in fact happen for a reason, I found myself counting my blessings at every turn. At some point in the week or two leading up to that weekend, I'd realized I loved her-- and what better time to to tell someone that for the first time than Valentine's?
After we finished our rations, we got out of the cart and walked down a palm-lined walkway to the beach, blanket in tow. We sat in the firm sand and watched the waves roll in for a few minutes, but got cold. On the way back to the cart, I stopped, reaching for her hand. Both shivering slightly, I put my freezing hands to her face (I've since learned she is most definitely NOT a fan of chilly appendages) and kissed her for what felt like days. When we parted, I stared warmly into those big brown eyes that I'd fallen for before we even met and told her I loved her. Speechless, she went right back to the kissing me for a few minutes, and then told me the same.
I don't think of this moment as the happiest I've ever been, the most romantic, or the most exciting. I've been consistently--and increasingly--happy with her for the last four months, and we've shared an abundance of moments I wouldn't mind being lost in for eternity. In all sincerity, though-- everything about this moment was perfect-- not at all the way I'd grown accustomed to my romantic pursuits unfolding in my 26 years (although I'd only been "trying" for 21). But if I had to change one thing about that moment, I probably wouldn't have had just smoked a cigarette. (She hates the way smoke lingers my breath.) Four months later, on the other hand, I'm doing my best to quit... and I love her more with every word.
when my husband told me about his affair, I remember sliding off the edge of the bed in an unconscious stuper. What followed was an onslaught on his explanations, sorrows and apologies. What I heard was like something from the Charlie Brown teacher "wha, wah, wha, wah..." That's the one moment in time I wish I could have frozen. It would have been helpful to stop all the words and focus on my actual thoughts and feelings at that moment. It took me another two months after he told me to really figure out what I was feelings. And, I think, had I the opportunity to freeze the moment, I would have those two months back. Interesting. I never thought of it that way, but with this challenge, it makes sense.
It was just two years ago. I had arrived in Paris at the Charles de Gaulle airport. My final destination was a train ride away through some of the more economically challenged parts of Paris proper. As I sat on the train - alone - I turned on 'Apocolypse Please' by Muse. It was like a soundtrack for this wonderful, romantic trip I had been planning for some time yet it was interrupted by this postcard of urban blight. And so I sat there with my weary face pressed to the window listening to the words and understanding - really understanding - that life may never be what you hope it will be.
And this is the end, the end
This is the end
Of the World
And it's time we saw a miracle
Come on it's time for something biblical
To pull us through
And pull us through
hmm , where does one begin . , the last time i was in grand central , i felt adrift , aloft , timeless , a mote on a draft coming thru god lighting from those skylites ..a small insignificant nobody in a sea of other nobodies , all a part of some fantastic time machine ..
@Puckeater116 This sent chills up my spine. I wish you well in your quest for that moment.
i just turned 20 about a month and a half ago and had my 1st kiss a couple of weeks ago. It was really short and really sweet. I wish that lasted longer :]
1991. Ashland, Oregon.
My best friend and I were at the park.
He lay back on the grass, laughing at some stupid joke I had made. His hair was long, and blonde and in the sunlight he was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen.
If I could save one moment in my life to live over and over again it would be that one.
The park, the sunlight, the laughter, and him - my brother, my soulmate, and most of all, my friend.
I don't think I have ever been so perfectly happy as I was at that moment.
This got me thinking whether or not it's even logically possible
to extend an event in time.
Since the identity of an event is characterized basically by its
duration in time, what does it mean to extend an event in time?
Manifestly, we wouldn't have the same event. But let's assume
that we could continuously extend an event in time while making sure
the extended event was the same in all other ways. Is such a
continuous extension even possible? From a logical standpoint,
I suppose so. But physically it's clearly problematic.
Then I thought about memory. Isn't memory like stretching or
pausing moments in time? Of course, I realized that memory is
only a poor facsimile of present conscious experience. Then I
wonder to what limits could memory be extended so that it may
be as vivid as present conscious experience?
Even more wacky, what would it be like to stretch out or pause
a moment in the future and not the past? Do moments
in the future exist like moments in the past or present?
Incidentally, if I had to pick out a moment in time to stretch
or pause, it would always be "now," that is, to always experience the present more richly. As such, all moments I am to have would benefit although I'd probably notice that benefit less and less.
It was the night after my high school graduation and i had gone home. None of my friends had parties that night cause they planned them for the next day or later that summer and i just had this overwhelming feeling of abandonment. I know i still had the friends from high school but I was scared about the future and leaving everything behind. I called up my best guy friend in high school and he said he had the same kind of feeling. Without thinking i asked him if it would be okay if i came over. I got in my car and drove 45 minutes in the fog to see him. Mind you it was about midnight and my parents had no idea i had gone. When i got there the rain was pouring down and he opened the door and i ran and hugged him. It was like one of those scenes in a movie. We just sat and talked for hours on his porch until i finally went home. I can't describe the feeling i felt that night but i knew i would never have another moment like this again.
i was 9 or 10, and for the first time in my life, i contemplated death. i thought about not thinking, not breathing, being completely empty. and as i focused on that thought, for a split second i felt it. there was nothing. i was just...free. bliss. but then i snapped out of it. if that one moment was longer...i feel like i could learn from the darkness how to live in the light.
See-sawing with my best friend when we were sixteen. It had been a week from hell. He found out I was dating someone and admitted to loving me, and I was so afraid I would lose his friendship. He was so devastated that I was with someone else. But in that moment, sitting on those see-saws, acting like we were half our age, I knew that it would be okay. And I felt whole again.
And know, he's pulled the same thing on his other friend. Guess I wasn't so special after all.
@jedikelly that is so refreshing to sit somewhere, spark up a conversation with a complete stranger, know it was worthwhile because you had the opportunity to speak with an interesting person that you may have otherwise never met.
this past Sunday - sitting at Starbucks with my Kindle - it was getting warm. There was a young lady on my left I had noticed her when she sat down. I mentioned out loud "We have lost our breeze" - and so the conversation began. An hour later we Annette from Uganda and I parted ways - it felt like we could have talked for days.
The last day of school years,
especially using everything for the last time and saying goodbyes.
Then going to your car or bus &
enjoying your first minutes of summer or break
by cruising to sweet tunes .
-clear mind, bittersweet &
not a care in the world
:) freeze.
My first - and only - instance of puppy love. First boyfriend. Bonfire. Hot cider and s'mores. None of the ditrustfullness, or stress, or pressure or anything that often comes with relationships when you're older. Just bliss.
But there are so many others I would freeze. So many.
That's easy. Any of the many times my (then) little girl would reach up and say, "Daddy, hold me." (I'm in tears as I type). And, yes, I pretty much always did.
There was this one time my friends and I recently drove down a boulevard coming back from Lake Michigan. My best friend, her boyfriend, my boyfriend and I were in a little red Pontiac, the two men were scrunched in the backseat, much closer than men see fit. Smoke was filling the car from the cigarrettes and we were laughing mercilessly for two minutes or more. It got to the point where we weren't laughing at the joke. We had forgotten what it was about anyways. We were laughing at the moment.
The last time I saw my dad less than a year ago was at a Blue Oyster Cult concert. We made signs saying "She's As Beautiful as a Foot" and were right up against the banister, my dad in his black bandana and I in my vintage BOC shirt from 1975. The sun was shining and my dad's eyes twinkled, even through his sunglasses. As soon as REO Speedwagon got on stage, we left.
I really enjoy it when I go outside after a light rain and stoop down to look at the water droplets suspended on a flower petal.
Any summer vacation off from school from ages 7-13. Carefree, no worries and not a thing to do except sleep late and get up to play.
There was a moment when I was living in Philly, it was really small and would have been barely noticed by most. I was crossing Broad Street, I had crossed halfway and was waiting in the middle of the road to continue to the other curb, I turned and looked down the road towards City Hall. It was a perfect moment and I would love to have it back or have it never quite end.
My grandmother called me while I was going to school in Tucson and said, "What are you doing tomorrow? Come paint my fingernails." So I got on the bus and traveled all night to reach her. The next morning I went and painted her fingernails and took her shopping and to lunch. We talked about so many important things and I can't remember any of them. She died two days later. I wish that day had been longer.
One night, early senior year of college. The night before was a huge party for all of our new generation of friends, the freshmen. This night was for the older ones, an hour and a half we drove to secluded san diego for a huge overnight party. We climbed on the roof, first me, my bff and our two other close mates. Later others joined. We all had our pieces and our stuff to puff, and we sat there recalling our childhoods, all of us having movies, cinema, the arts in common. All of us singing ninentendo mario themes and da daaaaing the instrumentals from "hook." Luckily I recorded the little candles we had lit for light, and taken pictures. The entire night was a blur, photos remain the only evidence of the amazing night.
i'd go back 33 years to spend a day with my grandpa at disneyland, sitting on his shoulders watching the main street electrical parade...pure magic...i still believe magic exists in this world, just nowadays, you have to look harder to find it...i miss you, grandpa
I was born in Mississippi, and my parents have never been ones to travel... so, I've pretty much been stuck in the South my entire life.
The first time I ever went to a big city... the feeling and moment was perfect. I've been to places like Memphis and Birmingham before, but they don't even come close to Chicago.
I always had romantacized what it would be like, and it was everything I had imagined and more.
I went to Chicago for the first time on a choir trip my Junior year of high school. Just standing outside in the cold in front of buildings that seemed to touch the sky was breath taking. I remember standing below a street light looking upwards and watching the snow come down so soft and sweet. There was so much to see, so much to do... I would freeze that moment.
I cherish the moments that scream opportunity and freedom.
On a retreat several years ago, we were at a ranch-type camp, just 15 or 20 of us, and on the last night we had a bonfire. It was mid-November, so it was cold and damp, but comfortable with a coat on.
The sun had set a few hours ago and the fire was just getting to that point where it was going well on its own and you could really start to feel the heat, even from 5 feet away. Suddenly we looked up and there was this huge glowing rig around the full moon... the sky was cloudless but there was a fine mist, and the light from the incredibly bright moon made a beautiful halo of light around the moon, mostly white light, but with tinges of blue and yellow... it was just so beautiful, we all went silent and for about half an hour or an hour we sat there, looking up at the moon, roasting marshamallows and doing all the things you do at a bonfire. It was simple, but it was just so peaceful and magical... I wish it could've lasted longer.
Also a few summers ago, we had just moved into our new house, on the top of a hill overlooking the beautiful valley, with taller mountains on the other side. We had started eating dinner on the balcony, as it was too hot to be inside a lot of the time. One night I stayed out there for several hours, reading until the sun set and then just sitting in the cool, watching the stars come out between the growing clouds. Eventually a thunderstorm started in the mountains across the valley, and I sat there for an hour watching for the flashes of lightning lighting up the sky every 2 or 3 minutes. Soon the rain started to fall lightly and it got cooler, but I stayed out there as long as I could, wanting the moment to last as long as possible. I'm hoping the storms start up again soon :)
Moments I wish I could stretch:
The first time my best boyfriend (now my husband) said, You know what? I love you.
The last time I saw my little brother alive and conscious. Unconscious in the ICU doesn't count. Well... it does count a little. But still.
The jolt when the second line appeared on the pregnancy test... all three times. The jolt never gets old.
The final few seconds before every space shuttle launch. The tension is so thick and maddening and delicious I feel like I'm going to burst right out of my skin. When those main engines light, and the sound is so deep and resonant in the flame trench below -- man. There is nothing like it. It's so much more than a dazzling show -- it's standing three miles away from one of our best efforts to look beyond where we are. Wrapped up in a dazzling show.
I would stretch out the year I was ten. I have never been more happy or more sure of my self than I was when I was ten. Everything was a surprise, everything was magical, everything was possible. I always look back to that time and smile.
My dad passed away 16 years ago. I was 6 and do not remember much about him. Last year on father's day, which I did not realize it was father's day, he came to me in my dreams. He enlightened me about many things. I wish I could have made that dream last forever.
I live in the middle of the country and get precious few days in the mountains. I got separated from my group at Steamboat Springs on a huge powder day two winters ago. I ended up in a grove of snow-laden evergreens completely alone. No one in sight or sound. The loudest sound was the whisper of the wind through that grove. It was absolute heaven. I felt suspended above that mountainside looking down on myself. It made me feel tiny and gigantic at the same time. It made me feel closer to my creator and has innumerable times since. When the practice of law is finished with me, I want to retire to that moment.
How about 3 weeks ago, when this long-term Buddagnostifarian's lung x-rays came back negative?
On a more mundane level, I always wish the taste of some delicious food could be drawn out. I would pause time whenever I had a pumpkin-flavored anything in my mouth.
December 19th 2006 - I remember it being a typical winter day outside, bright blue skies, my breath hanging on the air, slight frost on the ground.
Me and my mum spent two and half hours in a hospital side-room talking about her returning home after spending 9 weeks in hospital suffering from kidney failure due to the multiple myoloma she had. We talked about her spending the Christmas with her three 'girls' (all of whom were over the age of 21) and her first grandchild who was 10 months old.
We knew it wasn't the end of the tunnel we had reached. but more of a break in the middle...she desperately wanted to get back home...we all wanted her to. I remember her beginning to fall asleep before I left to go and do some last minuted Christmas shopping and saying "I'll see you at home on Thursday" and a massive wide smile appearing on her face before saying "I'll see you at home sweetheart" and drifting off to sleep.
She had fought so hard to get the okay from the doctors to return home that we now think she ran out of energy to keep on going. She fell asleep on the 20th and she passed away on the 22nd.
If I could pause or stretch out any period of my life? It would be the 19th December 2006, between 1.30pm and 4.30pm.
Last Friday night. My best friend and boy I've fallen for during the demise of my most recent relationship kissed me. We made out for 4 hours into the wee hours of the morning. Yesterday he tells me we should wait before jumping into a relationship to be sure it's what we both want. It is. All I want more than anything is that night, all the time.
I was in Guatemala doing some mission work. One morning our group decided to wake up extra early to see the sunrise, even though we needed as much sleep as possible. Some people were grumbling, but we all had a feeling it would be worth it. And boy...was it. We sat on the roof of our hotel in San Pedro, overlooking Lake Atlitlan, which was surrounded by mountains. The excitement built as it got lighter, and finally the most blazingly red sun rose out from behind the mountains, only to disappear behind the clouds about 30 seconds later. But those 30 seconds, with the sudden warmth, exotic birds singing, palm trees blowing, clouds spinning, the reflection off the water, and the majesty of the mountains....that was one of the most breathtaking experiences I'll ever have, God revealing so much beauty to our small group.
this is so lame and happened years ago, but in my junior year of high school, i went to the homecoming dance the night after my tennis team lost our first match of the year - at states. i was so bummed out but then the quarterback of the football team asked to dance with me during the last dance of the night. it was magical. we were together for two years.
My wedding day. For two reasons:
1. It is an amazing feeling to stand next to the person you plan to spend the rest of your life with and say those vows.
2. Having all of your friends and family in one place is something that does not happen alot, possibly a once in a lifetime event.
I would love to have had more time to really drink in that day.
every time my husband looks at me with a syrupy-smile and tells me how lucky he is.
About a month ago, I was newly in a relationship, at the park flying kites in the late-day summer heat.
Summer always creates the best memories, yes?
2004 - July. My dad picked me up at the airport in Birmingham, AL. I was coming back from my brother-in-law's funeral. My husband was staying one more day to make sure his niece got back ok. The drive from Birmingham to Atlanta. I would pause that. My dad died the next day. I miss him so much!
Wow! Love the question. Last summer, walking on the beach with my boyfriend (now ex!). Holding hands, cool breeze; I felt an incredible sense of warmth, closeness, comfort, happiness. I wanted it to last forever.
April 1987 Personally, things were pretty good; best in many years, actually. After years of relative apathy, I had asked my senior professor if I could postpone my midterm exam to go to DC to protest US meddling in Nicaragua and El Salvador and he agreed immediately. Computer science too, go figure. I hopped on a plane alone, only knowing one other person who was going and I had no prospect of meeting him. Stayed with a very nice and smart couple with a Buddhist monk. All strangers to each other. Next day I was sitting on the stone rail outside the capitol at a very small rally when I realized that sitting right next to me was Phillip Berrigan. Wow! After a while, who should show up but the one guy I knew in DC! Next day, a beautiful one, I marched to the capitol with 125,000. On the approach, surrounded by groups of various agenda, following a Puerto Rican band playing for statehood, I was overwhelmed by a sense of tranquility and love for that crowd of strangers, as I have never known. I don't know if I was on the verge of a seizure, a personality transformation, or what, but I must have looked beatific because, ironically, strangers started talking to me and broke the spell. It was the best I have ever felt on this planet. Absolutely no drugs were remotely involved.
The moment I first realized that life isn't about me, because that's when life got so much bigger than I could ever imagine.
My ship was overseas for several months. The morning we were due to pull back in to San Diego harbor we all woke up around 0400 ish to prepare. I remember walking outside and in the far distance I could see the lights of San Diego showing us the way home.
One of the first times I did stand-up and did improv. It was the first time I felt comfortable with what I was doing. Like I was in complete control and felt very confident in myself. It was when I found out that I wanted to do comedy for a living.
Christmas Eve as a child. Those were the last years where we were able to get all the family together. Now our family has nearly completely separated every which way, so we never are together as a family any more. Some relatives I do not see more than once a year. I miss that night where we would open gifts, tell stories, jokes we have heard a handful of times yet still were funny every time, and the love that was felt by each and every one of us. Not to mention the amazing food! :) i miss those nights. I wish I could re-live them
That first time I held my wife in my arms; long before she ever became my wife. That time when being near her sent shock waves through your body.
hmm. wow. i can't think of anything. strange. i guess no moment in my life has ever been that great.
The moment from my past that I always pick that I wish I could pause and not stretch was our senior year of high school, the rivalry football game. North side vs. South side, Apollo vs. Tech, good vs. evil. Our football team had NOT WON A GAME since I was in high school and lost a few before that. Anyway, they were on an 0-34 streak. 34 STRAIGHT LOSSES. The week before our game, a huge "0-34" was burned into our football field near the 25-yard line.
The game was at Tech, and we Apollo students infiltrated the stadium. Stadium full - Apollo on one side, Tech on the other. We scored an early TD but missed the extra point, 6-0. 6-0 at halftime. Screams across the field, chants, heckles, jeers, boos, etc. Tech had many chances but either fumbled or couldn't get it through on 4th down. 12 seconds left, Tech in the red zone, 4th down, TD or loss, Tech QB throws incomplete.
Game over. Apollo wins. 34-game losing streak broken. Against our hated rival. On their turf. We jumped the fence and stormed the field, celebrating into the wee hours of the night on their campus and around town.
Sorry, thanks for letting me relive that experience.
The moment I would choose to pause would be when the game had 7 seconds left. Tech had just turned the ball over after failing at 4th down, all we had to do was kneel, and the game was over. Knowing that the game was over, I would want to puase and just walk around the stadium. Look at all the faces. Every face. The joy on our side. The pain on theirs. Walk around the field. Soak in the moment. It all happened so fast in real life, I wish I could have paused that moment forever.
I wish I could have stretched this out... http://www.twitpic.com/871e7
There are so many moments I wish I could have back or stretched out. So so many. There was this one time, my husband and I were dating at the time, we had a fantastic dinner at our favorite restaurant. We were cutting up and having a blast. It felt like the planets were aligned and all was right with the world. We had nowhere to be and nothing else to do except enjoy each others company. Plus we had that the best waiter EVER, he was a hoot. I actually saved the receipt from dinner that night because it was just so perfect!
Last summer I took a trip to Amsterdam with a guy I had been seeing. I was studying in London, and he came to visit me. We stayed with my Uncle's friends right outside the city in a beautiful little town called Castricum. The morning after our first night, I left my guy in bed and was brushing my hair in the bathroom, overlooking an English garden (one of our hosts was English) with vines and flowers everywhere draping over benches and walls. The sun was shining, illuminating the white bathroom and the flowers outside. From downstairs I heard the haunting sound of Beethoven being played on the piano. The combination of knowing that I was in a beautiful town in Holland where I probably would never be again, knowing that the guy was sleeping in the room right outside, knowing I was falling in love with him, and hearing the beautiful piano softly from downstairs...it was so fleetingly surreal.
The weekend I graduated from college. It was the last weekend I spent with my father before he died unexpectedly.
Way back in July 2002 it must have been... I was 14 at the time, one of the best periods in what was a tumultuous teenage life... my 2 best friends and myself had a BBQ at one of our houses. We stayed out in the back garden from noon til midnight talking, laughing, and being carefree teenage girls. I never wanted the night to end. A mere year after that summer in 2002, me and my 2 best friends were no longer talking after we had an explosive row around Christmas 2002. They remained friends but I was cut completely out of the picture. Thankfully - 7 years down the line - we have all gone our separate ways but are at least now civil and courteous to each other when we cross paths in town.
When I look back on those times, it seems so strange to me that so much fun and laughter could be had without the influence of alcohol. Having just graduated after 3 boozy years at uni, it's [worryingly] hard to imagine having that much fun without the vodka now. Youth is definitely wasted on the young.
February 5th, 2009; I didn't ever want that trip to end. It was such a beautiful way to get to know my cast/classmates better. It's probably my favourite day of my life so far (and that's a fair bit of days to look back on).
It was yesterday and I was talking to my grandmother about books and literature classes. I'd want to extend that discussion; it was quite fun. But I do like that time keeps going, and before long I will be off to start something new, so I wouldn't extend the moment for long.
I was putting my daughter to bed on Sunday night. After I read to her, she wanted to play. She is currently 2 and when she gets into her playful mood, it's hard not to get involved. The best part of that moment is when we were talking to each other, eye to eye with as much depth in our focus on each other as I have ever had with any other human being. I loved every second of that interaction. I'm not one to "look forward" to things or want to go back in time to relive or redo and event in my life but I will remember that for a long time.
I wish I could go back to the conversation I had with David when we talked about books. He had to cut it short to go back to work but it was great while it lasted. He's my son and it's so wonderful when we can talk like friends which is more and more these days. I'd like to stretch those moments.
What better time than the present? I would pause right now.
There has to be someone, somewhere who is doing something interesting.
DISCUSSION TOOLSET
The week we spent "married" at his family's house while they were out of town. We read the last Harry Potter together, kissed each other goodbye before we went to work, and never once wished we hadn't stuck together.