Oh Time...Stand Still

7.8.17 - A beautiful evening in Springfield, the moon is huge and bright and the evening temps lack the seasonal humidity. The air is still and quiet. Laura just got home yesterday from her FCCLA week in Nashville. Colleen says she is glad she has been gone for two weeks - the previous week to Camp Rivercrest and then she had but a day and went to Nashville. Colleen lies.. I know this because Colleen took special efforts to save back fireworks from the 4th so she could shoot them with Laura.. some spinners, snappers and sparklers. So, on this evening before Colleen and Scott take off to Lexington and Laura stays home to work for the next week - on this night they are out in the driveway doing sparklers and spinners and snappers just like when they were younger. All three participating - all three laughing, giggling - even Scott. On this night when you watch your twin 17 year old girls that have one more year together and then will be off on the own individual adventures. This night when you quietly hear over the fountain in the front yard the two of them quietly whispering and talking. This my friends is a golden moment... so golden and so precious that you turn to your husband who has joined you to watch the merriment and whisper..."Oh, if we could freeze time." This moment, this night, this is what I will reflect back on.. this is what I will pack in my brain for further comfort.. much like you pack you favorite snuggle toy when you are small. You know, the toy that you clutch when the night is so dark and you are so alone that the prayer to your Creator doesn't soothe ..but this memory..it will soothe and it will comfort. It will chase away the nasty stuff that churns in your mind. My mother had Alzheimer's...a devastating disease... really more devastating for the family. I never knew what Mom was thinking or where she was in that fog. I so would have liked that - just to know what she was going through. I console myself that some of the thoughts she was having were golden moments like these. Hopefully she stored away many and could find them to soothe during the long lonely nights. A memory that calmed her mind and provided so much joy and peace. Once the Alzheimer's took its hold I don't know if she prayed or how she coped in those dark moments. I only hope she had a memory like July 4th on July 8th. One that gave her has much joy and happiness as the memory I will have of a beautiful evening in a driveway with three teenagers and some fireworks.