Memories Worth Keeping

It amazes how sights and smells can bring you back to places in your life as if you are still there. Its as if you are able to relive a time that slipped through your fingers all too quickly. The delights of summer with the feeling of warmth on my skin to the changing of schedules and pulling out shortened pants with sleeveless tops cause me to reminisce. 
When I was just a child, vacations meant new short outfits with sandals. Visiting relatives where the uncles were always funny, the aunts loved us completely and the cousins took us on adventures to a land so different from our Southern California roots.

My Mom and Myself in Arizona
at my Uncle Ivan's house

As a teen, we traveled less as my older brothers had jobs. Summer began to mean trips to the beach with friends. A mix of cocoa butter, salty air and leftover fires from the night before hung in the air. The sounds of the ocean mixed with our favorite music while laying on bright towels in the warm sand.
A couple of weeks ago, I was subbing in the preschool class at our high school early childhood center. As I looked out the gate from the playground to the quad area, I flashed to a moment just two years ago that triggered a thousand memories packed into my heart. This was the place where hundreds of parents were sorting through the sea of black caps and gown, searching for their child who had just crossed a threshold in life. My Ray had just graduated. We hadn't set up an exact meeting location, I had her lei (they aren't allowed to wear them during the ceremony) and more then anything I knew I was about to burst. It still gets me giddy to see this.

Right after I found her!

As I stood there, peering through the gates, I could almost hear the excited crowd again. The laughs, the cameras and the squeals as graduates were located. It was as if I was having a dream within a dream. Along with those memories came the ones that have made up her life so far. Those moments that have formed her, grown her up. They have become her just like my experiences have shaped me.

This year I will turn 50 years old. It is nothing like I imagined 20 or even 10 years ago. I don't feel old. I feel blessed. I am rich in the grace of God's love. I will have a half century of experiences that include 50 summers, 20 as a mom, a few more than that as a wife. I plan to recall many warm memories as well a create many more. I am thankful. I am at peace. I am ready to celebrate.

Always,




Hope