Lyric: ‘I feel like I'm drowning’…
In the village where I grew up, a boy aged 10 drowned on this day back in 1969. It’s a sad day that I’ll never forget. A day that was etched into my childhood memories even though I was only seven years old at the time. Like most people looking back at their childhood, I haven’t many memories of being seven, the moon landing, first flight of Concorde and the Investiture of the Prince of Wales perhaps, but these were international events whereas this was local and very real.
I could feel the raw emotion hearing my parents speaking to each other about the boy being swept away in the flooded river. A complete tragedy at any time of the year but being this close to Christmas must have been harrowing for his poor parents for that Christmas and every Christmas future.
The 23rd December also brings me thoughts of his life, a life never lived. He would have been 63 now. He could have been a success, failure, husband, father, whatever. We’ll never know. He did have some life but limited to a very short period of 10 years or so. A mere blink of an eye when you consider it’s already ten years since the London Olympics and they seem like only yesterday. Tempus Fugit...
And yes, I do bang on about making the most of one’s opportunity of this thing we call life. And especially on this day every year I think about how I lucky I am to have enjoyed sixty plus, full years of life and want to enjoy as many more as possible. I’d hate to think I’ve had a missed out on a lifetime of memories.
Nadolig Llawen
1,149 Marathons - 270 Ultras - 15 MDS - 9 GWR - 1 Life
No comments:
Post a Comment