Special Moments

Some of our most special, most profound moments happen when only we can remember them as such after the fact, in the telling. As I think back over my life to this point, this rings true again and again.

I remember when I was six and my nana was watching me and my sister for the day. We spent the whole day playing hide and seek while Uncle Nolly (who was blind) kept blessing us from his easy chair in the living room. He always seemed to know when one of us was in the room, no matter how quiet we thought we were. That day was special because it was the quintessential “day at nana’s” where we just enjoyed her company and had a great time. We even watched The Price is Right and Days of Our Lives with her that day, her two favorite programs. And nana is gone now, Uncle Nolly too. Even the house has been razed, but the memory remains, and it always will, at least for me.

And when I was 25, on my birthday, actually, an amazing woman called me up and told me she was open to at least the possibility of a serious relationship with me because she knew she loved me. And that night I sat in my apartment alone, writing poetry, poetry I haven’t shared with anyone since (over eleven years now). Yet, those private feelings that welled up inside of me, that feeling of getting a second chance, it was overwhelming. I’m nowhere near that apartment now, and it isn’t my birthday, but I can recall that feeling, those words even now. That’s special.

Then it comes full circle, too, because I will never forget the first time I held my oldest daughter in my arms at the hospital. She was so tiny (we had two outfits for her to go home in, but she arrived smaller than both of them), and the midwife said we would benefit from skin-to-skin contact. So I took off my shirt (the guy who us generally self-conscious about that sort of thing) and I held her little body tenderly to my chest. Just standing there with that blanket over her back and feeling her little heartbeat, it was incredible. It is that kind of moment that is unrepeatable, magical, and complete in its intensity.

These moments live inside of me, and they always will. We all have moments like these in our lives, special moments that we remember, even if no one else does. Because it doesn’t matter where we are and who we are with, the feeling remains, and it is oh so sweet. How many of these moments do you have stored away from your life?

Sam