Fill your memory bank with treasure

When I was about 13 and hugely impressionable, somebody made a huge impression on me. 

I think his name was Tommy (clearly his name didn't make too much of an impression!) and he was 5 years older than me and one of the cool kids from the council estate across the street from mine. 

I'd had a little crush on Tommy from afar for a while - his dad and mine drank together in the same social club but sadly that was as far as our connection went. Until one fateful day in our local park.

It was a baking hot summer's day and I-Think-His-Name-Was-Tommy suddenly arrived in the park with a huge bottle of coke and a couple of friends. To my surprise and delight they sat down close to me and when he saw me he called, 'Hey, aren't you Mick Curham's daughter?' 

'Yes,' I replied. 'Aren't you Seamus's son?' (Obviously I knew exactly who he was but hey, a girl’s gotta play it cool!)

'Yeah, do you wanna come over?' he replied, gesturing at the patch of grass beside him.

Now this might not sound romantic to you but to me, it was on a par with the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene, and I hurried over (in a very cool and nonchalant manner, obviously).

Tommy and I got chatting and I asked him what he'd been doing since leaving school.

'I work on building sites here in the UK all summer and save up my money so I can travel the world for the rest of the year,' he told me. 'The way I see it, when I'm too old to travel any more and I'm stuck in a rocking chair in some old folks home I wanna have loads of cool memories to look back on.'

We hung out for a little while longer before going our separate ways and I'm not sure if I ever saw Tommy again. I know I never spoke to him after that day, but his words have stayed with me all this time. 

Viewing life as an opportunity to create as many treasured memories as possible seems like a wonderful ethos to me.

Creating memories in Montmartre circa 2018

And of course these memories don’t have to be about travel. There are so many different ways to create treasured moments. Even something as simple as changing the route you walk to work or saying yes to a random invitation can create an unforgettable moment of magic.

So this coming week, I have a challenge for you. In the next few days, how could you create a memory to treasure? What could you do differently, or arrange, or where could you go, or who could you see?

And if you’d like to share your ideas in the comments or a reply I’d love to hear from you!

Son in Ukraine Update

A lot of you have been asking how my son is getting on in Ukraine - thank you!

The short answer is great, or as great as can be expected given the circumstances. He’s had some incredible, powerful and moving experiences since being there, and as he said in a recent social media post: ‘Walk down the streets of ordinary Ukrainian cities just north of Kyiv and you can see bombed out buildings, destroyed cars, and memorials to civilians murdered here last year. While it’s under Ukrainian control again, the occupation is still happening in many cities in Ukraine. To friends outside of Ukraine please support the Ukrainian people any way you can. Whether that’s through aid, prayer or at the ballot box. My experience here has shown that support from abroad does make a massive difference, but there is still a need for much more given the devastating impact of the invasion.’

Some pics from my son

I’m travelling to Ukraine this week to see my son and to see for myself the impact of the war, in the hopes that I might be able to write some things to help raise awareness and I’ll for sure be keeping you updated here on Wonderstruck.

Thank you you all again for being part of this community, it’s so lovely hearing from you.

Siobhan