Milestone Moment: The Secret to Preserving Memories

Milestone Moment: The Secret to Preserving Memories

As a continuation from my last blog about meeting my wife, I let you in on a little secret while I waited for her to email me back.

I drove to be with my family with a smile on my face.  You see, I was carrying a secret.  I was living in Indiana.  The place where I was heading was in North Carolina.  The day before I left for my vacationSnowball2, we received a little over 10 inches of snow and the temperature was a very cold 7 degrees as I loaded my minivan.  This really didn’t bother me though.  The day before I had gotten an idea that was sure to make me the hero of my wonderful nieces.  I checked the online weather map and the temperature where I was going would be in the upper 60’s all week.  So, I dug out my cooler from the camping gear in my shed, opened the lid and left it outside to get really cold.  The morning that I left, I filled that cooler with the fresh snow, closed the lid, wrapped it in a blanket and loaded it in the back of my van.  I drove all day wondering if I would receive my email before the snow melted in the cooler.

I Had A Plan

I drove for 11 hours that day and arrived in the evening at my sisters house.  I hadn’t seen them in over a year, so we exchanged the usual hugs and kisses.  We talked for a few minutes, then came the time for my big secret.  I gathered my sister, her husband, and my 4 nieces in their side yard and opened the back of the van.  They were a little disappointed when I didn’t pull out a big box of Christmas gifts and wrapped presents.  They were even a little confused when I removed the blanket from the cooler.  Finally I lifted the lid and they suddenly realized that we were about to have a snowball fight!  With a temperature of 66, we began to grab handfuls of this frozen delight and throw it at each other.  My youngest niece, who was 4 at the time, had never seen snow.

The Neighborhood Comes To Play

snowballfightAs we ran around in the side yard throwing our snow at each other, the neighbors began to wonder what all the screams and squeals of joy and laughter were all about.  They looked out their windows and kids from all around the neighborhood began to come out and join our little snowball fight.  This became an epic battle for survival.  It ended up being my sister, my 4 nieces and myself against the 7 of the neighborhood kids.  No snow was left unused.  We were hiding behind the lawn furniture.  I was using a metal trash can lid as a shield.  We were running around and hiding behind the cars.  Even after a snowball was thrown, it was not out of play.  It was picked up and thrown again.  We wasted nothing.  It didn’t matter that there were pine needles and dirt in the snow.  It took over an hour for the snow to completely melt.

Preserving Memories

When it was over, we were all sweaty, had pine needles in our hair, and mud on our skin and clothes.  The yard was muddy and torn up.  Every piece of clothing we were wearing needed to be washed.  But, it was worth it.  You see, I don’t get to see my family as often as I want.  When we get together, I want our time to be special.  The cleanup was a lot of work, and the time spent having the snowball fight was too short, but, the memories will last a lifetime.  It has been over 10 years since we had our 66 degree snowball fight and we still talk about it. For tips on how you too, can preserve these kinds of lasting memories in 3 easy steps, check out http://familyshare.com/preserving-family-memories-in-3-easy-steps.

Precious memories like this will last a lifetime.  Yet, in the back of my mind I wondered. . . Had she (my future wife) emailed me? Stay tuned for the next coming weeks on our website to find out what happens when I meet my wife.

What is your favorite memory as a child? Comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

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