Oh! How I could Freeze this Moment in Time Forever

For as long as he knew, he always remembered her saying “Oh how I wished I could freeze this moment forever “ 

He could never quite understand her fascination with this phrase. Growing up, he was oblivious of its meaning. Throughout his terrible teens and his rebellious youth he tried to ignore it but her need to use it at every occasion annoyed it and he made it pretty evident.

She used it so often that it it lost it charm for him. There was a brief period, when he came out to his family and his father finally came around and accepted him by embracing he, she exclaimed how she wished she could freeze that moment in time, he found it very endearing.

But then her habit of using the phrase so often that once again the phrase lost its charm on him.

She used it when he graduated, when same-sex partners were recognised, when his partner popped the question, and when they walked him down the aisle and he said “I do”, she didn’t leave a single moment to exclaim, “Oh how I wished I could freeze this moment in time forever”.

Then one day, while he was taking care of her, he asked her why she used that phrase so often. 

She looked at her son and smiled. She took his hands in her frail hands and said,  “these moments that I wanted to freeze, these are bright spots in my dark days.”

She began to cough. After she sipped the water he gave her, she wiped her lips and continued, “These frozen moments have gotten through tough times. Times when I have felt low, these moments lifted me. When I was sad they brought a smile on my face. When I felt hopeless, it gave me hope, a reason to live. You may not understand it now, but there will come a time when your heart will be so full of love that you would want to freeze that moment forever.”

He couldn’t help himself but tear up a bit. He bent over and kissed her on her forehead. They both smiled as she wiped away his tears. 

In a few weeks she was gone, gone to a better and happier place, with all the moments she had frozen. He would always have the moment they shared with each other. It became their frozen moment.

A few years later, he and his husband were finally allowed to adopt a beautiful baby girl. 

When he held his daughter in his arms for the first time, she grabbed on to his finger. In that moment, his heart was filled with love. He smiled and said, “Oh how I wish I could freeze this moment in time forever!”