Show and Tell Tuesday: Elephant Love Medley

Today's Show and Tell Tuesday theme with Andrea is Groundhog Day...if you had to pick one day to repeat over and over, what day would it be?

If I could re-live any day over and over I wouldn't choose the obvious.  No, I don't want to re-live my wedding day.  In fact I'm thrilled I never have to go back there.  Of course it was beautiful and nice but, for me (for us) it was too full of emotions and stress and being the center of attention which neither Dan nor I like.  Yeah, it was a great day but not the best day of my life (and I glad of that). 

The day, with a particular a moment, I would want to re-live was way back the summer before I started high school.  My parents and my sisters and I were on our summer vacation which usually involved a road trip of some kind.  This particular year we stayed in Colorado and drove over to Pagosa Springs and then on to Ridgewood where my mom's friend was living.  We did a lot of things on that trip and it felt very much like most of our trips.  Bickering in the back seat.  Hot and sticky car rides for hours.  Just sisterly love mixed with teenage angst.  But one evening wasn't like that and it will forever be engrained in my mind as the most comforting memory that I have.

It was early evening and the sun was beginning to set.  My dad was driving us all through the area mountains and we were surrounded by such overwhelming natural beauty.  The windows were rolled down and the dry Colorado air was breezing through the car.  We had the soundtrack to Moulin Rouge playing loudly and my sisters and I were singing along.  The song was "Elephant Medley" and the epic ballad and whimsy of the lyrics was just so fitting.  I distinctly remember just feeling so full in that moment.  All my senses overwhelmed with heightened awareness. 

My twin sister and I were on the cusp of starting high school and as shy and generally anxious teens we were having a hard time with the upcoming transition.  In that car, that night, I was surrounded by everyone in my life who meant the most to me.  We were all safe.  We were all together.  We were all happy.  For that fleeting length of time, the fears of the future and the disappointments of the past were nowhere and it was just a genuine sense of comfort and peace.  I locked that feeling in my mind and I think I thanked God.  If I didn't I should have, and I do now, because it was a gift.

Picture of my sisters, dad, and me on that trip - summer 2001 (I'm on the far right)

I've had glimpses of that feeling since that night but none will ever compare.  My sisters and I all live in separate states and my parents still back in Colorado.  We might all five be together perhaps once a year, if we're lucky, and that's hard.  We each have our own lives and we've each grown separately away from each other.  The family we were in that car is different now.  The world is different now and I'd give anything to have that moment together once again. 

Of course a future memory involving Dan and me and maybe our kids could easily take the place of the moment I've shared here but for now when I think about that night in the car and I turn Elephant Medley on as loud as my ears can bare - I truly feel that we are all still together and nothing can take away our togetherness - that makes me happy.

P.S. The Moulin Rouge soundtrack is all around epic.  You should binge listen on YouTube like I have for the past week.