Make a memory

So here we are again.  The days are long, the weeks even longer, but the moments are still there.  As we battle through this time together I cannot encourage you more to keep tracking your “highs and lows” of the day (a wonderful dinner time conversation introduced to us by some very dear friends).  The highs can encourage us and the lows can teach us.  It is and will continue to be a tough time, but we can also take some ownership of how we make it.  On Saturday it was my birthday.  I am not a big party person anyway, so not having loads of friends round was never going to be an issue, but I do like to get out and create good memories.  I had to decide to challenge myself.  How was I going to make this birthday special?  What memories could I create?

My sister suggested a treasure hunt around the house to find my presents.  I thought this sounded like fun so presented Daf and Poppi with the idea.  They did themselves proud (Poppi not to give anything away and Daf to come up with the clues).  It was a great activity and took a while as clearly Daf and I think quite differently so I didn’t naturally think what he had intended!

Earlier in the week, I chatted to another very special friend of mine.  She had asked her husband to write down a few suggestions of things they could do in an evening which might be a bit different.  Not only does this avoid sitting in night after night either scrolling through Instagram, watching TV, bickering, or just doing boring jobs, but it allows the opportunity to be inventive and create lasting memories.  I was inspired by their choice for Tuesday night…to sit on the doorstep with a glass of wine!  So simple, but so lovely.  

This got me thinking.  What could I do that might have a similar vibe?  When I told Daf about the idea he looked at me and said: “if I suggested that to you, you’d tell me not to be so silly and that it’d be freezing!”  He had a point.  The grey cells started whirring and I was brought back to our brief Scandinavian trip.  I had loved being in Sweden and having hygge wrapped in a blanket in some town square.  That was what we were going to do.  An April dinner in the garden with a fire and blankets.  As it so happened, it was a beautiful day and we didn’t need the blankets till quite a bit later, but the fire was welcome and fun all the same.  And just like that, a lovely memory was created.  I shall look back on this birthday as a different one, but one that didn’t just pass me by (which they often do).  Instead, one where being forced to be innovative and resourceful resulted in forming long-standing memories.

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What memories can you produce today?

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