MEMORIES ..... yours alone to keep

L to R - My Mum - Judith, my grandmother - Amy,
my great-grandmother - Eva, my great great
grandmother - Alice (Gigi).
Taken - December 25, 1958 (3 months before I was born).

Do you ever look at a photo and think how much time has passed and all that has happened since it was taken?

Do you ever wonder where all that time went?

Do you ever think about the people in the photo and ponder all the memories that you have, both good and bad?

Do you ever wish that you could have a time back in your life?

Do you ever wish that you could go back to a simpler time in life, a time when things were not so complicated ?

So much has happened in my life since the top photo was taken.  The above photo was taken 3 months before I was born, 3 months before I came into this world.  4 generations of one family, hard to believe.

The next photo was taken when my twin sister and I were about 11, almost 12 and then there were 5 generations.  My great great grandmother, the lady sitting in the middle of the photo was 99 years old when she died.  I still marvel that we had 5 generations living in our family at the time. Such a blessing.

We were to be blessed twice more in our family to have 5 living generations - once when my niece was born and the next time was when my great nephew was born.

I look at this fig tree and wonder ....

How old is this tree?

How long has it been here?

What has it seen in it's lifetime?

What struggles did it have to get to where it is now?

Was it tended or just left to grow on it's own?

What is it's life expectancy?

Will it be there forever ?

Will it eventually die ?
Will it be alive long after me ?

When I look at photos of my children as little ones, I think of all the time that has gone by.  I look at my son here and he is so little .....   Everything is so new and fun to him.  He is learning about life.  He is experiencing things that will help him to find his place in the world.  To find out who he is and where he is going.

This young baby is now a man, has a son of his own and will be 28 this year.  How the years fly by.

My middle child, my son who was 1 year old in this photo, will be 26 in a few weeks.  Our children are always our babies, I think that's just how mother's feel about their children. 

All we hope for our children is that they will have a good life, that they will do some good in the world.  That they will grow to be good people who will be able to function in the world as we know it.

I just want my children to be better than I am.  To live a worthwhile life, with purpose.  That they will have good characters and care about others.

Looking at these photos and thinking about my children makes me realise how no man is an island.  We all share our lives with others.  We are influenced by others as to what we do in our lives.  We influence others by our actions, by the way we treat others.

Do we think about the impact that we have on the lives of others, either for good or for bad.  Hopefully it is for good.

All we can hope is that we have taught our children enough that they will be the kind of people that we want them to be.

I look into the faces of my little ones in these photos and I get a warm feeling inside as I remember how beautiful they were at that age.  How gorgeous and cuddly they were.  How protective you felt of them.  

But then as they grow up and move on, you can't protect them any more.  You have to let them grow up and become their own person.  You have to let me be the human being that their potential allows them to be.   

Sometimes you even wish they could be that little again, especially when they are asserting their 'authority' and I know better than you attitude, citing "you wouldn't know how I feel".  Knowing all the time that you have been there, done that, and know exactly how they feel.  Wishing that you could take away their pain, but knowing that you can't.

You remember the times when they were happy, smiling at the fact that you were just talking to them.  Giving them attention.

Smiling just because everything in life brings them joy.  Everything in life is a new and wonderful experience.

You realise was a beautiful and wonderful blessing they are in your life and so you smile back and never want them to grow up.  You want them to stay just the way they are.

"Look Mum, I'm a bride"

You see the creativity that is in them, as they role play, to learn about life.  

When they do things that are so amazing and beautiful and you feel so proud of who they are.

You see their beauty, their soul, their innocence and you hope that they will always be that way.

I have lovely memories of this photo .....

When I asked what she was, she said to me "Look Mum, I'm a bride", and she thought she was so beautiful.

And just quietly ..... I did too.

Sometimes life changes and it doesn't work out the way you want it to.  You don't always have control over what your children do or what they become, or where they go with and in their lives.  You have to learn to live with that.  However, no one can ever take your memories away from you.  No one can ever change what you hold dear in your mind and in your heart.  Those memories are yours alone to keep and reflect on.  

  

MONDAY AND THE START OF A NEW WEEK

Here we are, another Monday, and already it's the 5th of January. Doesn't time fly. There is such a build up to Christmas and then before you know it, it's the New Year. Now I don't mean to scare anyone or anything, but can you believe that the kids go back to school in just over 3 weeks. It only seems like yesterday that they went on holidays.



During these holidays my 17 y/old daughter and I have been to see 2 movies, both of which we thoroughly enjoyed. The first was Marley and Me.....based on the book by John Grogan.



This book was absolutely wonderful and was a laugh a minute with the antics that Marley got up to. Whilst I don't think that the movie was quite as funny as the book, I still think that it was well work seeing. I have just discovered that John Grogran has now brought out another book called The Longest Trip Home: a Memoir. If this book is anything like Marley and Me it will be a good read.

The 2nd film that we went to see was Bedtime Stories. I thoroughly recommend this film to anyone who wants to take their kids to see a good movie. I loved it and I would certainly go and see it again. I am not a fan of Adam Sandler as a rule, but he was terrific in this movie.

I guess it reminded me of the time when my kids were young and I would put my kids to bed. As you are sometimes, I would feel really tired and wouldn't much feel like reading a story to them from a book, so instead I would tell them a story that I made up in my head. The story always had a little girl or boy with the same name as the child I was telling the story to, and they could never work out how the story came to have a child in it with their name. To my children it was amazing. Isn't that the wonderful thing about the innocence of children.

My Favourite Book of all time

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.

Excerpt from “The Velveteen Rabbit: or How Toys Become Real” By Margery Williams

I love reading so much. It would have to be the thing that I love doing the most in the whole world. I can think of nothing nicer than sitting in front of an open fire on a cold winter's night, in my PJ's with a hot choclate (and marshmallows...yummy!!), reading a good novel. ESCAPISM, I call it.

My other alternative is relaxing in a nice comfy chair on a warm spring day, in the shade of a large tree, dappled sun gently sitting on my skin, reading whatever novel I am into at the time. Yep, that's my idea of Heaven.

Speaking of Escapism.....as a child and a young teenager I would escape into the world of books at every opportunity I got. I'd be reading a book and be so engrossed in it, that often I would not hear my mother calling me. Often however, even if I could hear her calling, I would ignore her and not answer because I didn't want to give up the one thing that gave me enjoyment and pleasure in my life.

The Velveteen Rabit would have to be my all time favourite children's book. I love this excerpt from the book ....it is such a lovely, lovely piece of writing. I especially love the last paragraph where the Skin Horse talks about 'being Real'. If we are real, then we are loved for who we are.

I recently gave my neice a copy of this book as a gift for her new baby Isabelle. I decided that people give all kinds of gifts when someone has a baby, clothes and toys mostly, and I wanted to give something different.

Books and Reading are wonderful gifts to give to children. They are wonderful things that we can share together. Books are also wonderful, because in this world of violence and so called reality...they are a chance to escape into the wonderful world of fantasy.

I highly recommend The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams to anyone who is looking for a nice gift for their child or grandchild. There are many different copies of this book however, this particular edition has the most magnificent illustrations of any that I have seen.

This is another really cute little story that I brought for my neice Madison when she was born. Mem Fox is a wonderful children's writer. Mem Fox is the author of the children's book Possum Magic, which is also very magical and such a lovely story about a possum.

On being a mother.

Lately my thoughts have been with my children and how quickly they have all grown up. I feel more aware than ever just how very short life is. It seems like only yesterday my children were young and had their whole lives in front of them....well they still have their whole lives in front of them, but they are no longer little and in my constant care. Yesterday they were 12 and 10 years old and today they are almost 25 and 27 years old. I did have one more child after this.......I feel I was so blessed to have 5 children....so very lucky.

I have been going through my photos and found this one amongst them all. I know they were that young once, but I just can't believe that two of these children are now parents with children of their own.

Children are such a blessing in our lives. They can bring heartache yes...that is just part of being a parent, but they are also the most wonderful and important part of our lives. For me having a family is probably the most important thing that I have ever done in my life.

I realise how precious it was to have this time with my children when they were little. As life has progressed and certain events have taken place in my life I have come to realise just how important loving, holding, hugging, sharing and enjoying your children is. I have come to realise how important families are.

Here's miss A (Sooooo cute - but then what mother wouldn't say that), the one not in the other photo who came along later. She will be 17 in a few weeks.........yeek!! 17 years old.....now that is scary, very scary!! She keeps reminding me of that fact often lately.

Someone asked me once in a job interview of all things what was the most rewarding experience I had ever had in my life and I only had to think for a second and said BEING A MOTHER...and I truly meant it.

When I found out that I was expecting my second child I wondered how I was going to love that child as much as the first. I didn't understand how I would be able to find enough love for both children. Silly me!!! I came to realise that as a mother our love just expands and expands to include all the children that we have......I know God made it that way.