From the Desk of Murray Lincoln: Making and Keeping the Memories

Misty Hollow Carving and Misty Hollow Digital Images
These BLOGS are sponsored by my businesses.
“Misty Hollow Carving” was launched in October 2008
Misty Hollow Digital Images were launched on September 26, 2012.
“Crop Circles’ Web Site” where all my images are available.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Making and Keeping the Memories – my Time with Emma
Have you ever had one of those “one of a kind” moments where you know it has never happened before – and may never happen again? It is the moment when you simply know that the very best is happening to you and you would like to stop time… keep the moment… and never let it go.

Has that ever happened to you?

Yesterday as I was intensely focused on getting the job done I had a lot of time to think. I was actually at that special moment again. I captured it with a few photos and with a million memories. It may never happen again – but I caught the treasure and it is mine! And no one in the world is now as rich as I am!!! NO ONE!

I have had these moments in my lifetime before. Each one is like a Gold Brick worth millions of dollars. And each is stored in the vault of my memories. Truly they are treasures that will never fade.

I stored one of these treasures when I hiked with my family to the top of Lion Rock Mountain in Hong Kong. The Lion Rock was not far from where we lived on the Kowloon Territory of Hong Kong. The effort to get up that mountain was great but the view was worth every step. As I stood on top of Lion Rock I could see most of Hong Kong below with its 6 million people buzzing around their daily routines. What a spectacular memory!

I stored another as we walked into that huge temple in Bangkok. There is front of us was the reclining Buddha. In the cool of that temple room and the quiet of the moment a small bell rang declaring someone’s prayer being offered. I had been in that room before when looking at National Geographic Magazine when I was a little boy. The immense sense of gratitude almost over whelmed me as I stood in front of this marvelous creation that had been made by artists hundreds of years before. Then in a wisp of a breeze a small gold leaf blew from the surface of Buddha’s arm… a little prayer someone had applied to his already gold guilt arm. Wow… what a memory!!!

As I rode that gigantic creature slowly through the forest that morning with my wife sitting beside me, I could feel the huge bones in its shoulders move below that tough hide. It was our first elephant excursion back into the forest of Northern Thailand. Yes it was a tourist thing. But for someone from the prairies of Canada it was amazing. I never dreamed in all on the years before that I would smell the forest, hear the sounds of the unusual birds nearby and feel that giant beast’s body below me. Delightful memory – wow!

As we stepped off the train for the first time to walk into China I was almost overwhelmed by what I saw and felt for that wonderful country. There pushed up against the iron fence that held people away from our entry point were the faces of hundreds of people staring at us. It was overpowering at that moment. I came from a place in Western Canada that is vast and huge with wide open spaces and land that even has places no one has yet seen. I was stepping into the greatest population in the world with over a billion people. That memory will never leave me… the hundreds and hundreds of faces looking at me with no expression.

That is only a few of the memories that are locked inside of my vault of treasures.

But yesterday this new memory will be one of my best ever. It far outshines what has been before in my life experience. It is dazzling and amazing and over whelming to start with … then it is the very best… and then there are no words to describe what I feel.. none at all.

What could that possibly be – you ask…?

I was at the Sacred Heart Church painting the last and final coats of gold on the Statute of St Joseph. It is the really intense part of the task that I took on to restore these precious 100 year old creations.

As we worked quietly on St Joseph a very important Mass was taking place just little ways from where we were working. The strains of music and the voices mixed in melodies of all sorts floated our way as the people attending the Sunday Afternoon Mass participated.

It was at that moment that my granddaughter Emma commented on what she was listening too. She was enjoying the sounds of what we were doing.

A little later Mass was over and it became absolutely still in that Cathedral. We were alone in the silence of that great building.

I looked up and saw the most beautiful young lady sitting flat on the floor and painting each small stroke with great care. She was loving her art work as much as her grandpa was. She had caught the spirit of what we were doing and the importance of this precious work of art for these people. And most important I was loving what she did.

My granddaughter loves her art. She is very creative. And she is very good at what she creates.

I snuck a peek at her looking closely at her work. The intensity of that beautiful face radiated a small something of her inner beauty. I realized in that moment that all of the beautiful places on earth, all of the stunning things that I have seen and places that I have been are nothing besides my granddaughter… and this precious moment we were sharing together.

Yesterday another 1000 Gold Bricks were added to my memory treasure chest. I have a lump in my throat at this minute as I savour what I saw and felt.

How can one grandpa be so blessed? But I am only blessed because I stopped to see what has been given to me. And yesterday was one of those extra, extra, extra special moments that is worth maybe a gazillion dollars – or more.

I am blessed way beyond measures of this world. Wow!

And here are the photos that captured it all… well at least some of it… Thank you Emma…