There are events through the march of time that dance and shimmer in our heads and hearts and rise at unexpected moments. Like the Northern Lights, they are awe-inspiring in their scope. They reach the deepest parts of our soul and emerge unexpectedly. They are left unfinished like the cadence of an A-minor hymn. Moments that create self-awareness and define who we are. Humorous events that impart wisdom. Spontaneous acts of extraordinary human kindness. Elliptical and incomplete, they interrupt life’s plot. They just happen. And that’s the way it should be.
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My wife asked me what was my happiest childhood memory? It was the day my two friends came and asked if I was coming with them? It was a spring morning, and we took the ferry across to Kelvin to visit the museum.
We were there for several hours and on our return, we were rubbing our tummies with hunger. A man said, ‘Here’s a half-crown, buy yourselves ice-cream.’ We jumped up and down singing ‘Chips, glorious chips.’ Then… we stopped…went silent. The man told us to buy ice-cream. But he just smiled, and we jumped up and down again singing ‘Chips, glorious chips.’
And I would have to say, that was my happiest childhood memory; the day the kind man smiled and thought it was okay to buy chips.