March 23, 2010

Remembering the Moments   "We do not remember days, we remember moments.  The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten," said Cesare Pavese.    I've been transported back to those moments and those memories. A wellspring of emotions has been released.       You see, my mother sold our house.  I say "ours" because it was our house.  Mom, Dad, and their three girls, including me lived there.  It was home.  Through good times and yes, even bad times, we stuck together.  We were family.   It was our third home.  The first, was living with grandparents for several years (family is king in my Greek background), the second was a duplex with my aunt and uncle in the other half (family again).  Our third home was ours alone.   Fifty years of memories are in that house.  Grandparents, grandchildren, friends, relatives, neighbors included.  They all went through the revolving door over time.    While cleaning out  fifty years of stuff, Mom came across old movies of the clan. They are now reproduced on a DVD and the moments are being remembered and I'm right in the middle of them.   Emotional!  I'm a baby, cradled by my parents and grandparents and showered with kisses.  I'm at a family gathering (there were tons of those) and who are all those people?  My goodness, they are so young!  My parents, so young themselves.  I see my Dad with the four women who meant the world to him. I'm at my birthday party with my kindergarten classmates (I remember them all), at the beach with my parents and my sisters, bobbing up and down in the ocean. I see my mother's father, who died when I was very young, holding me in his arms.  I see my parents visiting my father's birthplace and his relatives in a tiny village inGreece(I did have the opportunity to visit there also). I see so much more.   Many of the people in the DVD are no longer with us.  Tears of joy and sadness are shed as I reminisce.  They are not forgotten.   With gratitude, I remember the people and the moments and appreciate their impact on the richness of my life and who I am as a person.   Those are some of my moments.  What moments do you remember?     "I've never tried to block out the memories of the past, even though some are painful.  I don't understand people who hide from their past.  Everything you live through helps to make you the person you are now."             Sophia Loren   "Every man's memories are his private literature."             Aldous Huxley   "No matter how far we travel, the memories will follow in the baggage car."             August Strindberg   "Everybody needs his memories.  They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door."             Saul Bellow       Kudos to my Dad for being a movie buff and shooting all the movies he did.  I bet he never dreamed back then how much enjoyment we would receive by reliving all those moments. I'm reminded, though, of the VHS tapes and volumes of pictures that I have piled in boxes labeled "Pictures".  What am I waiting for? It's time to recapture those memories for my children and their children to come.  May they watch with the same family pride and emotions that I feel while watching those long-ago movies my Dad left for us.   Have a fantastic week and remember your moments.   Stephanie     We grow by "word-of-email" so please feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone whom you think might benefit from and enjoy it. Thanks so much! Contact Us: stephanie@7steps2abalancedlife.com