Late on Friday last week I rang a couple of tradesmen and got one to come over on Sat. We had wanted to rearrange our home layout a bit and we needed the tv and cable points moved to a different part of the house. One of the tradesmen I rang was happy to come on Sat afternoon.

We went about our usual Sat morning routine of coffee, dry cleaning and groceries but it was very grey and a bit cold – too chilly in fact for this time of the year. I had to remind Tress we are already in mid-spring and it should be warming up already. Instead, it hovered around 8-9 deg all morning and it was raining too, which was a bit of a mood dampener.

Late morning, we busy-bodied ourselves and walked to the house behind our street, which was being sold and a largish crowd had turned up. The little jedi came along. The bidding activities were healthy and the property eventually got sold, and as soon as we got home the tradie rang and we got ready for him. For the rest of the arvo we rearranged the home.

That night we went to lower Templestowe for a dinner at someone’s home. The other guests were a surprise – the church pastor and his family – and it became a very subdued one as a result for me. I was surprised the pastor accepted an invitation to a dinner party on a Saturday night, but I guess each has his own priorities and own way of working.

We got home relatively early because the daylight saving switchover was happening between Sat night and Sunday morning. It’s that time of the year where we lose an hour. The early morning light will be no more for a number of weeks. I had been leaving home in the morning when it was starting to brighten up but this morning it was back to very dark. The flip side of course, is it stays light till later and last night dogs and their owners were still frolicking in the oval park across the street till past 7 and soon, it would be past 8 before it turns dark.

We talked to kiddo on skype last night and caught up on what she needed from us when we trek up again this weekend. She looked and sounded well so I hope she’s travelling well.

I had carried Sheanne in church in the morning, which for a little while, reminded me of when kiddo was just a little girl. Just like daylight savings and varying lengths of days, carrying Sheanne and talking to Kiddo said the same things to me.

The ebbs and flows of times and events will continue in their cycles. These cycles began well before I came into being and well before I was given a consciousness of these things, and they will likely continue well after I ceased having consciousness of these and other things and well after I cease to be. While I have those moments I will cherish them.

As I looked at Sheanne I saw a future full of potential for love and blessings. I appreciated how she wandered a few pews away from her parents and had come to Tress and I, with a balloon in her hands, and nodded when I asked if she wanted me to carry her. That was a moment I cherished because soon, she will grow and have other relationships which would blossom her more. While she was in my hands, other than cherishing how a little girl of 2 ½ years of age found it in her to walk to a 47 year old grump to share a few moments, I thought of how I can make her continue her blossom when at some point soon, we no longer have those touch points.

When I spoke with kiddo later that night, I was thinking of little Sheanne earlier in the day. I thought and wondered if Sheanne would grow up to become like kiddo. I wondered if her parents would be as proud of her (as I was of kiddo last night), when she grew up, went to Uni and talked to her parents – probably over some holographic phone of some sort – 16 or 17 years from now. I feel really blessed yesterday, not just with kiddo and Tress surrounding me, but in being in a unique position where I see my daughter in the here and now, and I have touch points with Sheanne and her parents, who have so many parallels with Tress and I back in the early to mid-90’s. It is a unique blessing to be at this point. I wonder what I should be doing about it. Probably before the days get dark quickly again…

Related articles

• It’s only October, and I’m already looking forward to the end of daylight savings (cloudywithachanceofwine.com)
• 8 Things You May Not Know About Daylight Saving Time (history.com)
• Fall Back … to Sleep! Here’s how to get your kids adjusted to daylight saving time (theinsider.retailmenot.com)
• Zip It Bedding (guidedspectrum.wordpress.com)
• The Little Things (music4munchkins.wordpress.com)
• 8 Things You May Not Know About Daylight Saving Time (history.com)