My last blog ‘Days when your heart stopped’ seemed to touch a chord with people as it has become my most widely read blog and created the most vocal response for which I am extremely grateful. As you sit at a PC tapping away you wonder if anyone will read what you write let alone react to it so I’m really pleased people have been so complimentary. Having re-read the piece myself it struck me that it emphasised the negative, painful, traumatic things that happen to us so I felt it was only right to balance it with a more positive piece. This is it.
In choosing the title ‘moments that took your breath away’ I am trying to get to the thoughts that define who you are. As babies we come into this world with only the memories of the womb and the birth, but as years go by we have a collection of memories good and bad, rich and poor, diverse and mediocre. In much the same way as I mentioned last time I would like to share with you positive things I can remember in the outside world and some from my world.
In 1969, when I was 6, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first set foot on the Moon and I was lucky enough to see it and remember seeing the fuzzy picture on a black and white television. As I remember it now it takes me back to the living room of the house we lived in on Kettering St, Streatham. Sporting memories are of Charlie George scoring for Arsenal in the 1971 F A Cup final and lying prone on his back, Manchester United beating Bayern Munich in the last minutes of an amazing European Cup final in 1999 and David Beckham scoring his penalty against Argentina and the free kick against Greece.
In music the biggest thrill I’ve had was seeing Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones walk onstage to play two Led Zeppelin songs with the Foo Fighters at Wembley Stadium in 2008. I’ve also had the honour of hearing Art Garfunkel sing ‘Bridge Over Trouble Water’ also at Wembley Stadium in 1981. The last time Genesis toured they did the ‘In The Cage medley’ at Twickenham, all moments which make me smile and want to listen to the songs. This afternoon I caught Susan Boyle on a repeat of last year’s ‘Britain’s Got Talent’. It amazed me yet again. What with that and Danyl Johnson’s amazing rendition ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ on ‘The X Factor’ these were my two tv moments of 2009.
If you’ve never seen this take a look too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0
This is the best wedding video ever, I really can’t think of anything beating it. Just makes me feel good every time I see it.
In my personal life there was the buzz of beating the 1994 World Champion at the 1996 World Eskrima Championships in Los Angeles, my favourite win of my Stick-fighting career. Passing my driving test was brilliant – especially after 7 lessons and how nervous I had been before. The gig that kick started my speaking career at the Northampton Business Club in December 2008 and the 4Networking meeting at Fleet, Hampshire this year. I will never, ever forget the first time I saw Jo, my girlfriend, as I opened the door at my place of work and had no clue that we would fall in love, but was knocked out by how great she looked.
A life is a collection of memories, moments, feelings, experiences and a lot of routine. We get up, do what we have to do, go to work, bring up the kids, feed and walk the animals, cut the grass, wash the car, but it is the moments that we live for. When someone does take your breath away with a look or a thought, when your favourite team wins something or when a child makes you laugh. Our lives seem so long and yet in reality they are gone in a moment. Between the moments that take your breath away and the days that your heart stopped there is a lot of life to be lived. I love the Chris Evans clip on his morning radio show when the jingle says ‘Welcome to another day on Planet Earth’. It gives us the chance to overcome anything bad that happened yesterday and to try repeat the glories that made us happy. Long may you share with me the time here in this life we lead.
Andy Gibney 