I’ve been travelling again.  Only a short trip this time, three full days in Sydney with our darling daughter.  She had promised herself a trip to Sydney, staying in a luxury hotel when she finished her Master’s Degree.  And she wanted to share it with little ole me!!  I know a day will probably come when she would rather share this kind of thing with someone else, so I was fully present and soaking in the experience while I had the chance.

My own dear Mother, whose company I thoroughly enjoy, said to me recently “Have fun and make memories now so that when you are my age and can no longer do those things, you will have lots of nice memories to look back on.” I shared those wise words with Alli as we walked along the harbour.  Her grandmother was with us in spirit, if not in body.  We just never know what life will bring and so making the most of every day is a good thing to do.  It doesn’t mean every minute has to be filled with excitement or mind bending experiences, just that you are fully present and doing meaningful things.  It wouldn’t have mattered what we did in Sydney, the fact that I was with my daughter, sharing her young, optimistic, intelligent energy was enough. But we had a great time anyway!

We ate nice food, including truffled French brie (oh my).  We had Hot Stone massages at a nice spa. We fit in some culture, with a walk through Sculpture by the Sea, and, of course, we shopped.

It was during the shopping I had a very nice epiphany thanks to Alli’s wisdom.  I have been looking for two summers for some nice ‘everyday’ tops that have short sleeves, but with no luck.  This was the third time Alli was accompanying me on this futile quest.  Poor her.  As we were perusing the racks she simply said to me ‘maybe you need to change your ‘everyday’ style a bit.  Indeed.  I was staring at a perfectly lovely top that I could wear for grocery shopping and general ‘out and about’, but because it didn’t quite conform to my preconceived idea, I was pushing passed it.  I tried the top on in three colours… and bought all three. (by the way, I have learned you should always try on all the colours in a piece of clothing if you are considering buying them, because the various colours/fabrics are often sewn by different seamstresses and will fit slightly differently. In this case, I bought the top in a 10 and two 12’s because that was what fit!)

As Parents and adults we are used to teaching things about the world to those younger than us, but I absolutely love it when I can gain insight from someone else, especially my daughter.  The fact that I get to take some of the credit for making her the wise, beautiful, intelligent young woman she is, is just icing on the cake. Happiness.