Lest we forget

Not a crafty post this one but felt compelled to record this feeling I am having...

It's ANZAC day... we woke early this morning just on dawn, Terry raced out to adjust the flag on the flagpole in our backyard to half mast. Then we took a moment to remember.

We didn't get to a service this morning in fact we have never been to a dawn service in Australia. What compelled me to blog now is a sms I just received from one of our dearest friends Jaimie wishing us happy anniversary. Exactly 8 years ago, the 3 of us embarked on a trip we never thought we would make. Young (relatively) and working in London, we talked of a trip from Turkey to Cairo overland and wouldn't it be great to be at Gallipoli on ANZAC day. We did it on a shoestring budget (more of a necessity then anything). I know many Aussies did the same thing but our trip was special to us all because we did what we said we would, we learned a lot about ourselves, cemented a life long friendship with Jaimie, we met wonderful people and maintained most of these friendships to this day. Too much to say about the trip and no words can really do justice - it lives happily in my memory bank.... Every year, Jaimie or I would sms each other and when the message comes, it always makes me smile.

So eight years on and the message came through today... I wondered out loud "has it really be 8 years?" Terry nodded with his "don't remind me how I am older please" look... I thought (out loud - I do this a lot) I don't feel 8 years older or perhaps not anymore mature! So I wonder (again out loud) when do we stop getting more mature? Guess that we are all in our (somewhere in the middle) 30s and the thought of getting older surfaces periodically... Sure we did a lot since, career wise and other things, we have learned other skills etc... maybe that's what maturity is. We are learning and experiencing life in general and this living makes us more mature and better at dealing with life... I attribute my not "feeling 8 years older" to not having any regrets at all. Life is good for me, for us.

Lest we forget - those who fought before us so we can have the life we have... I live each day remembering how fortunate I am...