Those Ooh or Aah Moments in Life

There are times in my life when I've had one of those ooh or aah moments. They can be few and far between, but, they are certainly life changing. I have had several of those moments so earth shaking they will stay with me for the remainder of my life.

First, I should explain what I am referring to as an “Ooh or Aah” moment. Ooh moments are always bad. You make a wrong decision or something happens that involves you and all of your senses are suddenly shouting. You know nothing good is going to come from it. In fact, dread climbs on your back and hitches a ride for weeks (even years) waiting for all the fallout to subside.

Aah moments are always good.  They also happen more frequently than their trouble loving cousins.  Aah moments however, can be so fleeting you almost miss them entirely; making it hard to recognize and savor them. A faint smell, a smile on a loved one’s face, or the warmth of a soft caress, may be all that is left behind to let you know you have been part of a magical moment.  Occasionally, the aah moments will linger and be captured so the feeling can be recalled to enjoy over an over again.  Sometimes, you get a relaxed, everything-is-perfect feeling that has you wishing you could make time stand still. 

My first serious ooh moment, that I recall, happened when I was eleven. It started out as the worst thing that could happen to a young city girl and was the catalyst for another even more serious ooh moment ten years later. I learned that ooh moments can come strung out like beads on a chain with all of them traced back to some original ooh moment that was the silent trigger.

One day my parents told us kids we were moving to a larger house in the country. I was a smart child and I had figured out that we would be moving, I just never expected my parents would drag us all off to a house, that had no indoor toilet. Or, that we would be attending a four room school, of all things. I was devastated. I knew that, due to the isolated setting and my mothers loss of helpful neighbors, I as the oldest, would soon be changing my name to Cinderella. I cried myself to sleep every night for weeks before and after that move.

My dread of the life I would have after the move was well founded. Moving changed the life of every member of the family forever. For me, the seeds of resilience, adaptability, and personal growth were planted, but a life-long struggle with the weeds that choked my self-worth, and personal harmony also became firmly rooted.

After our move the family grew from seven to thirteen children. My parent’s struggle to care for their growing brood added considerably to the responsibilities my oldest brothers and I had to take on. The effort to be myself and not the person everyone else expected me to be, was what led me to my second more serious ooh moment.

In the fall of 1965 I met a very handsome young man. I convinced myself I was in love and he was the “knight-in-shining-armor” who would rescue me from my Cinderella life of servitude. We were married in the summer of 1966. As the saying goes, “the blush was hardly off the rose” before I realized I had jumped from the frying pan into the blazing fire.

The problem was that my handsome knight was a male chauvinist with both feet firmly planted in the Nineteenth century. While I did not expect we would become hippies (it was the sixties after all) I was expecting to rank higher than his sunshine yellow Impala. My second major ooh moment occurred one day in 1967 when I realized I was pregnant and any chance of achieving the life I dreamed of was forever lost.

Aah moments in my life became indelibly etched in my memory because they were rare. I am not referring to moments like the first time you held your new baby, watched your child’s first dance recital or saw your daughter being led down the aisle on your husband's arm. Yes, those are aah moments, but, I am referring to moments that are unexpected and send warm tingles clear to your toes. For example: you are out walking and stop to watch a spectacular sunset. That is a nice moment. If the person with you, put his arm around you and said, “what a lovely sunset, I am so glad I was able to share it with the person I love.” that is an aah moment to remember. One that will probably have you walking an inch off the ground for a while besides.

Recently, my husband and I were sitting in the office of our investment banker. While she was busy entering our information into her computer , my dear husband, leaned over and whispered into my ear “ I wish I was free to nibble on your earlobe right now.” Now that is an aah moment that had me floating on air all the way home. Other similar moments are the reason that the aah moments in my life are certainly on the increase.

You will have to forgive me now because I am going to end this and go tell that sweet man how much I love him.