Hi lovely,
I’ve recently been on a family break to Norfolk. My cousin’s daughter was getting married and we attended the wedding, which was beautiful. We were staying in a little cottage nearby and I was glad to find there was a good stock of books here.
I am always reading coaching books and I rarely make time for a novel. I did join Modern Mrs Darcy’s Summer Reading Club and that helped greatly last summer (if you loved ‘The Light Between Oceans,’ I’d recommend ‘Everyone Brave is Forgiven’ by Chris Cleave, which was one of the summer reads), but since then I’ve been living in my own world rather than fictional worlds. This is something I really want to change as I love reading fiction.
Holiday weeks are different. I’ve just read ‘The Light Between Oceans’ by M.L. Stedman. I’ve also devoted some family time to working together to complete Ravensburger jigsaw number 19 417 9 – Fairytale Fantasia and in examining each piece felt as though I could almost step into the world the gorgeous artwork creates.
Reading a book set by the sea while beside the sea is perfect. In case you haven’t read it, the story is about a couple who live on a lighthouse station. The woman has suffered terrible miscarriages and one night in a storm a boat washes up with a dead man in it and a baby, who is still alive. The story goes on with what results from the decisions and actions that the couple take after this.
The book is really moving and you really feel for the characters and what they go through. The sea and the lighthouse are present through the story.
I had just finished reading the book before we headed to a deserted beach for an afternoon. I built a sandcastle fortress with my daughter and we played at burying each other’s feet in the sand.
My twelve-year-old dog dug down into the sand and rolled around on it, so happy to be there. Then I watched as my husband and my daughter, wearing a red fleece and playing with a red frisbee, threw the frisbee to her daddy. My husband showed her how to make the frisbee glide across the air currents and she was delighted to be able to make it fly well.
The story of the couple in the book helped me to be even more aware of how grateful I was to be sharing these moments with my family. I did take a photograph and a short video on my phone but I intentionally took a moment to appreciate those moments in time.
I wanted to remember it in years to come, a snapshot in my mind. The beach, the red against the blue, the wind, the giggles, the warm fur of a flat-coated retriever, the salt air – all ingredients in a concoction of time.
I remember that I did this on my wedding day. I said to myself ‘This is special, I want to remember this,’ and that intentionality lets me create my memories more vividly than pixels can.
This week as you go through your life would you like to consider if there are any moments you feel grateful for that you would like to intentionally remember?
Until next week,
Deborah
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