Dinnertime Memories

While at lunch at Taco Time with my mamma and dad today we started to reminisce about when they were in elementary school and how all the nuns back in the day loved second generations and how they all called my dad Tommy (his dad's name) even though they all knew it was Bill. So as we progressed in our conversation and after I had shared some of my more embarrassing moments in elementary school I asked dad for a story he'd never told before and I got one of the best ones out of him ever, and he had actually kinda forgot about it, but the imagery was so vivid and so clear in my head I'll never forget what he told me.

As dad told it, he was about 8 years old and he was walkin' home from school a week before Christmas vacation. It was probably 3:30 and it had snown earlier in the day so there was a fresh, sparkly layer on the ground. The sun had just come out, making it colder since there were no clouds to insulate, plus it was almost sunset time, but he remembered seeing the snow crystals in the air as he walked home. He was a tiny guy when he was a little kid and he couldn't even be seen over a snowbank yet. He told me that he remembers his goulashes that he was wearing, the book bag he was carrying full of art he was taking home from school, and the way the snow sounded beneath his feet. He remebered how cold and pretty it was and that he loved the fact that though it was only 15 minutes after school got out that he was entirely alone during this perfect moment in his life.
This is the part that made me smile more than anything; He said that at that time, though he was only 8 he remembered being filled with so much joy on this one afternoon cuz everything was so perfect and thinking to himself, "It doesn't get any better than this." He was 8! So there he was, soaking it all up, the crystals in the air, the sun above, the crunching snow underneath his feet--One little boy, for once completely by himself living in the moment grateful just to be alive on that one, perfect, snowy afternoon.

I've had those moments, I love those moments...I dare say I live for those moments. These days they come when I'm walking to an early class or when I'm chasing a sunset out in the country, but without a doubt in my mind God gives us those times to say to us, "Hey, this is real beauty. Imagine this feeling every day, I offer it to you, don't forget to notice it."