Trapped in the amber

I am lucky enough to have some very insightful friends, unique people who keep me thinking. One of them, about a year ago, related a thought to me that went something like this. 'I just want to know that this moment can never be redone.' That simple sentence changed how I looked at things, how I remembered perfect moments, how I experienced them. Many times, traveling with Joey in Europe, we'd rush through some place taking pictures and seeing as much as we could see as quickly as possible, then we'd stop for a moment. Be it a random immaculate room in the Louvre, the beautiful expanse of the Cliffs of Moher, or the ancient mystery of Stonehenge, we'd pause and absorb the moment allowing ourselves to simply be there, soaking it up so to speak. The camera's would go away, for while trapping moments through the lense allows me to share my journey with others when I get home, that lense narrows my view of the world and I try not to forget to take in the whole of it.

I'm reading, as always. This time it's Slaughterhouse 5, a book that has been on my to do list for a while and was waiting innocently for me in a stack at Jakoba's house. It helps me pass the time when the power goes out, reading by candlelight. The introduction to the book describes it as a 'novel somewhat in the telegraphic schizophrenic manner of tales.' It reads much like I think, jumping from one moment to the next, remembering a day when I was 12, which reminds me of another time ten years later. At one point, the character asks 'Why me?' and the response struck me.

'Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is. Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber? Well, here we are, trapped in the amber of this moment.'