Top 10 Favourite Memories

I don’t know why I decided to write this post. I started up my laptop with a whole different post lined up in my head, but for some reason, my fingers developed a mind of their own and typed Top 10 Favourite Memories instead! This could actually be a tough one because I’m probably going to struggle to narrow it down to just 10, but here goes . . .

No.1 – The births of my children – what could be more special than that? Ok at the time they weren’t exactly fun but with each painful push I knew that I was getting closer and closer to meeting by beautiful babies. Seeing their faces gives such an overwhelming rush of love and emotion I don’t think anything could ever top it!

No. 2 – Walking down the aisle to see my future Husband’s face beaming back at me. Getting ready on the morning of my wedding felt like I was pretending, as you do when you’re a small child, but seeing his face and the emotion in his eyes made it all real. The day passed far too quickly, but I was the happiest girlie on earth.

No. 3 – Sightseeing in London with my Mum. My birthday falls two days after my mum’s birthday, so we always do something special to celebrate. The year after Little Bean was born I bought tickets for Mum and I to see We Will Rock You in London. The plan was to have a day of shopping and sightseeing before heading to the Theatre, but the day before Mum’s birthday I fell down the stairs and sprained my ankle very badly. Thankfully I was able to borrow an automatic car so that we could still go down to London to see the show but being on crutches the shopping and sightseeing had to be adjourned. Three months later we headed back down to London when I was feeling better and had a fantastic day, we walked non-stop, didn’t use the underground at all, we just enjoyed the sights and sounds of London. Ok, so yes, we managed to fit in a bit of shopping, too!

No. 4 – My first Valentine’s date with Hubby (pre-marriage). I was told that I had to be ready early in the morning as he would be taking me out of the day, and it would be a surprise. As the car pulled away, I was told to look in the glove box, where I was faced with a toy Lion and some paperwork. I pushed the toy lion to one side as I assumed this was Curly’s toy, which had been left in the car, and picked up the paperwork. The piece of paper in front of me told me that we were going to see The Lion King in London and then it dawned on me, the toy Lion was Simba and was actually meant for me! We had a lovely day together, we enjoyed a lovely lunch out and then headed to the London Eye before spending a magical couple of hours watching the Lion King. This was the first time that I had been to the Theatre and it was to ignite a thirst for more, since that first time I’ve lost count of the number of shows I have seen.

No. 5 – When Hubby proposed! On Thursday afternoon, he came to see me at work and told me I needed to finalise anything urgently the next day as I wouldn’t be in. Was he taking me out for the day somewhere special? My mind raced ahead to all the places we could go to, such as Brighton. London? York? The following morning, way too early, we got up and headed off in the car with two small suitcases. Apparently, we would be away overnight.

As the car headed south, I decided we were definitely heading to London or Brighton, but then he changed course, and the sign said “Stansted”. I looked at him quizzically, and he said he needed to go to the toilet, and that was the closest he could think of. Being early and a little bit stupid, I believed him! Until we pulled into the car park, then my mind raced to “OMG what clothes has he packed for me, am I going to look daft”. As it turns out, we were heading to Dublin, and my mind dared to imagine that perhaps a proposal was in the offing, but as the day wore on and we walked past jeweller upon jeweller, I thought perhaps I’d got it wrong. Back at the hotel, we got ready for our evening out, and as Hubby (to-be) was in the shower, I put the TV on and sat transfixed at Eastenders as it was the episode where Alfie proposed to Kat. Hubby got dressed and looked as gorgeous as ever, then he began his usual ritual of “Are you ready yet?” line of questioning. As usual, I just ignored him and carried on at my usual speed watching Eastenders. As soon as the credits went up, I said, “I’m ready,” and turned around to find him on one knee behind me with a small black box in his hand. I won’t tell you exactly what he said, because its personal but needless to say he proposed and I said yes. When I opened the box I was faced with a picture of a ring and the letters “I.O.U” on it, he said that he knew I would want to choose the ring myself. We had an amazing weekend in Dublin, and it will always be one of my favourite memories.

No.6 – Sunday walks with my Grandad. When I was little, I lived with my Mum, my Nan and my Grandad. Every Sunday morning, Grandad and I would go for walks along the old railway line. We would stop at the sweet shop for supplies and then head off on our walks. When my cousins were visiting from London, they would come too. I always remember Grandad was so tall that I had to nearly run to keep up with his steps but I didn’t mind, I just loved being out having special time with him. I lost my Grandad when I was 21, but I still think of him at some point every day, and I always smile when I do.

No. 7 – Playing croquet in the garden with my Nan, Grandad, Mum, Aunties and Uncles and cousins when I was little. We had a lovely big garden and would have such fun playing together on a warm summers evening. I loved it when the whole family got together, we always had lots of fun. Now that we are all older we don’t get to see each other so much but its nice to get together when we can.

No. 8 – Our first camping holiday with Curly. I loved the look on his face once we had erected the tent, he was so excited at the thought of living in it for a few days. He loves being outdoors and made some great friends. Unsurprisingly we had no trouble getting him to sleep on the first night, all that fresh air had him knocked out until about 8am.

No. 9 – Seeing Eminem at Milton Keynes Bowl with my cousin C. I love going to concerts, but that has to be one of my top concerts ever. We had to wait for the longest time for him to come on stage but it was worth every minute of it. Unfortunately, it rained for most of the show, but I didn’t care; the atmosphere was electric. There were some scary moments when we were waiting for him to come on stage because the 60,000-strong crowd started throwing bottles everywhere. The most frightening moment was when C got hit in the face by a half-full bottle of sun lotion. Thankfully, someone took pity on us and loaned us their umbrella so that we could shelter from the raining bottles!

No. 10 – The first time I took Little Bean to preschool! This probably wouldn’t be in the top 10 for most parents, and it’s not in mine because I was pleased to be leaving her (ok, just a teensy bit), but this is a favourite memory for me because I was overflowing with pride for her. She is such an independent little girl, and I knew that I would have no problems leaving her at school. When we walked into pre-school, the Manager said to her, “Morning, you must be Little Bean,” She replied by saying, “Yes,” as she threw her jacket onto a peg and began playing with the toys on the table. I love that my little girl is such a confident little girl, yes at times it means I get lots of grief from her because of it but my challenge is to direct that confidence rather than let it get out of control!