Simple Pleasures

My father was not a great philosopher. He didnt leave behind for me a memoir penning down his pearl's of wisdom for me to remember and reminiscence about. He didn't leave behind a legacy of anecdotes for me to be able to refer to and live by. What I do have of him are just the simple memories of him. Memories of simple days with him or times we spent together that created meaning in our lives. An inherent memory of events, a simple day perhaps spent doing nothing, yet somehow it became ingrained into the deepest recesses of my mind for some reason, and in time became a cherished memory.

One such recollection I vividly remember is a summer day at the beach one afternoon. It wasn't really a beach day, it was more of a fishing day actually, which I was at the time, not at all interested in. My Daddy loved fishing. It was his favourite past time and I guess because of which, it also became Mummy's as well. I for one, hated them.

We lived in Dubai for much of my childhood and most of our family outings on weekends at that time, were spent fishing. I for one, was not keen on fishing-

a) because I was never given the fishing reel (coz I normally either messed it up by entangling it together or got it entangled with Daddy's line and thus ruined both our reels) or,

b) I could not fish so I used to end up having the line in the water and ultimately allowing the fish to eat off my hook, which was obviously not good for the purpose of fishing.

So, since I was never given a line, the task that was entrusted to me in an effort to keep me occupied was to collect the fish that Daddy caught and put them into a bag. I had no interest in adhering to the task entrusted to me. I much preferred sitting on the seashore close by, watching my parents at work or splashing in the water at a slightly further end from where they were fishing. So on this sunny day, I was wading around in the water in my little swimsuit and floaters and looking for little for seashells close by while my parents went in with their hobby.

On this particular day, the catch that my father was hooking was Lady Fish. Who knows if the Gods were in our favour on that afternoon or Poseidon; the King of the Seas was being generous to us human folk, but Daddy struck gold while fishing. When Daddy started fishing, every few minutes he would reel the line in with a fish dangling on it. He would hook it up again with bait and throw it back into the sea and a few minutes later reel it back in with another catch. This went on and on and on. Because of the frequency of Daddy's catch, Mummy had to stop fishing herself so that she could just keep collecting the fish that he was reeling in. I was so excited seeing this that I was prancing and splashing up and down in the water with excitement. I vividly remember the scene; Daddy continuously reeling in fish after fish and Mummy, laughing and excited with the catch was happily and quickly collecting all the fish that Daddy was unhooking and throwing onto the shore for her to pick. We collected two huge shopping bags of lady fish that day.

It was a very simple day with simple pleasures but somehow that basic and mundane day got affixed in the recesses of my memory for reasons that I do not know.

On our way home Daddy put his hand around my shoulder as we walked back to the car. "Did you have a good day today, pumpkin?" He asked me."Yeah, I guess." I shrugged answering him, more preoccupied with the bag of all the sea shells I had collected on the sea shore that day. He paused a few seconds and in finality and as an after thought said, "We had fun together and that's what's most important." 

And that is what stands true for me today. We were together, making those memories as a family. Reminiscing on the day today, I am transported back to a feeling of happiness and contentment. What would I not give to have a few more years with him, a few more instances to make more memories of him to cherish and add to my box of memories of him. At the time it meant nothing to me, but today as I think back to those moments, those cherished memories, it makes me wish for so much more from life with him. How many of these simple days in our life do we take for granted? How much do we actually live each moment today, cherishing each second we have with a loved one?

In retrospect; If I knew that the incident would become a memory of a day with Daddy then with this knowledge would I have not done something differently? Wouldn't I have perhaps included myself and been a part of the whole fish collection ordeal that my parents were clearly enjoying together and thereby changed my memory in order for me to cherish it a little better?

One thing I do know for sure though. People may pass on but their memories live on in us forever. Daddy didn't have any anecdotes for me, he just taught me to enjoy each moment without letting it slip by. He taught me to cherish life's simple pleasures and live them with all your heart. We each have one life, filled with moments we create. We never know when life throws us a curve ball. It is important therefore to value each moment, live each moment and cherish the people we have with us in that time, because we never know when everything changes into one beautiful memory.