Skip to main content

Time in a bottle

On Saturday, one of our dear Cousins celebrated his 21st birthday - quite a big deal down under... here in Africa! Normally because it means a party. In a hall. With black-and-something-coloured overlays. And tiny, sparkling confetti that reads 'Happy Birthday' and '21'. And nuts and meebos and Messaris Chilli Chippies. And a buffet. And a DJ. (Hell! Some even go as far as to do the '21st step' and all that!)

It also triggers a walk down memory lane - mostly for Mom's any way.

Tim's Mom did not disappoint and she's been pulling out photos from the early 1900's and tagging us all in them!

P-J, Jorja and Ethan were fortunate to meet Tim and our other cousins living abroad when we visited them earlier this year. I too got to meet a older, taller, stronger, wiser man that I'd last seen 8 years ago. And then you realise just how quickly the time goes... and how important it is to make the most of our time...and what a difference time can make!


This coming Sunday, we will also remember our late Gran Naomi's birthday. Not only thinking of the caramel and banana cake that she would've prepared, or hearing her ask "Did you pour yourself a (cold) drink yet, Dearie?" but also to celebrate what her life meant to our family and the time that we had with her throughout my childhood and into my early married years. I was fortunate to have her witness our marriage ceremony in 2006 and even Jorja's birth in 2009 and I'm sad to think that she never met Ethan or Zac. Her passing 4 years ago has not made the loss any less but it has definitely helped us appreciate her influence and has enriched our relationship with my Gramps - and he's watching Jorja, Ethan and Zac run circles around the place these days and trying to find a hiding place I'm sure!


In both of these instances we can have a renewed appreciation for the fact that we can't hold time in a bottle. Perhaps that's why I enjoy taking so many photos - and journalling? The idea that a moment can be captured and kept in our memory is so appealing! When we discover that time brings with it a host of both negative and positive impacts, we can surely start prioritizing how we use it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Papu Comes to Visit 3

Since the last post we've had two more weeks of Papu visiting with us and then one very long week since we dropped him off at the airport. In mid-July we went to Burlington Airport en route to my final exam, and recreated what should have been his triumphant arrivals lounge experience in June. PJ took him to Lake Champlain and surrounds while they waited for me to complete the test and then treated me to "the test is done" lunch. We spent a rare hot afternoon at Silver Lake Park swimming with friends, we shopped 'til we dropped at The Vermont Spot, we were able to see the clean-up operations happening in flood-stricken Montpelier and even managed a quick stop at the Vermont State House.  We visited the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe and enjoyed Ben and Jerry's ice cream at their factory. We took a drive around my old VTC campus in Randolph and Gifford Medical Center where I practiced this past year. We drove through the Dartmouth campus and the Boat House on the Conn

Papu Comes to Visit

For the last 10 days we have been enjoying having Papu here with us so much that we completely forgot about the plan to post daily blog entries about his trip!  Yes, I considered this special visit the perfect reason to resurrect the blog and write more... Well, it turns out that when your Dad is visiting from overseas, you don't have much time for anything else besides trying to do 180924523093284 things, be in the moment, and take a photo of it! Here are a few photos of the first week-and-a-bit: Day one. The equivalent of driving to Plettenberg Bay I'm told! We experienced smooth open roads in some parts, midday congestion in and out of Boston, heavy downpour with flash flood warnings towards Burlington, and some interesting GPS navigation. But the passenger and his luggage reached us safely at the end of a long day. At last he was able to wrap his arms around Papu! Ethan and Adrienne arrived back from their trip to Lake George the day after Papu arrived and have been doing

Papu Comes to Visit 2

 It's been another 10 or so days of Papu in Vermont with us, and he's experienced more heat, severe flooding, Summer holiday camps, a long-awaited touristy activity, and many, many late dinners!  We returned safely from Plymouth VT just before mudslides, flooding and road erosion caused all major routes between there and home to be closed. It's been raining nonstop some days! The snack shack that we visited in Papu's first week suffered flooding similar to what they experienced in 2011's Hurricane Irene, and many more surrounding towns have been struggling to get on top of water diversion and mopping up efforts. We are fortunate to be safe and able to access necessities, and bar one wild drive in a thunderstorm last Thursday, we are trying to time outings around extreme weather forecasts. Of course, this means that we haven't been out much! Last Saturday, however, the sun was shining, and PJ took the crew into Boston for a bit of sightseeing. They visited Fenway