What’s your most magical moment in life?

[TwirlyWitch]

Apart from having kids or getting married.

Mine was a few years ago seeing a whole field of fireflies in the USA at dusk. The air around me was lit up with their little green lights. It took my breath away and I burst into tears it was so unexpected and so beautiful I don’t think anything else will ever come close.

Would love to hear what others moments are.

These are wonderful! My own contribution:

Watching two fox cubs playing together early one morning in a rape field when I was about 8.

Seeing a distant field of blue linseed (I think) blowing in the wind and it looked like a lake. Again I was young.

Front row at Stirling castle to watch REM. A truly awesome adventure!

Seeing the milky way completely unexpectedly while staying in southern Ireland. I didn't want to look away!

Arriving at canary wharf to find a free concert by the BBC orchestra and they were playing the Dr who soundtrack. I'm not a huge fan of anything, but the music is amazing to hear live. That was truly goosebump enducing! Similarly, watching a free outdoor performance of Turandot and hearing nesun dorma sung live.

Canada. Well done. The mountains, the lakes, the snow. You have done it right. My DH proposing to me on a secluded snowy mountaintop. Just magical!

Driving through the Highlands of Scotland while listening to enya.

Swimming at 5am in the warm waters off the coast of Costa Rica
The squirrel monkeys climbing on us and their delightful chirrup noises!
Abseiling down a waterfall.
Watching a thunderstorm over the sea at 2am.

I've been lucky to have a few holidays, but they've all been wonderful!

Oh and my 2yo DD hugging and stroking my bump that contains her little sister last night!

Sorry, that's long!!

A few years ago I taught English GCSE to a lad with autism. One-to-one, for two years, we did Lit and Language together.

He wasn’t expected to pass, but he was desperate to get a C in Language so he could go to college.

He worked his socks off for two years, and on results day I was there with him and his family to see him get a D in Lit and a C in Language!

We all just jumped up and down hugging each other! It was like winning the lottery!

Then I went back to my car and burst into floods of tears. One of the best days of my life.

@Unihorn wishes finishes later this year 😭 tapestry of nations also made me well up too. Actually coming to think about it probably everything about Disney does lol

Sarahlou63 reading that lifted my soul!

@pinkarsedfly - I love that - well done you - I fear my border terrier story is knocked back but as @beela says - sometimes the most magical moments are every day moments. Cooking in the kitchen with Ds and getting the giggles about something one of us has said - I'd keep that over the Northern lights. ( no offence to those whose big moment is the Northern Lights - and I use it as a random example - inset any other big travelling / sight thing of your choice. ) Actually at the moment one of the most magical things is in my teeny patio garden I have put food up for the birds and Mr Robin has claimed it as his territory - lovely to see him getting plumper and chasing off other tiny birds so Mrs Robin can have dinner.

Walking in the woods this time of year almost makes me cry. There are loads of little magical clearings full of bluebells and streams and it’s all green and just gloriously beautiful.

Diving in the Red Sea in a place where dolphins were known to congregate.

They said just jump off the boat, swim down there a bit and wait. And we all spent an hour sat 10 metres underwater just watching dolphins dive down right in front of us.

My first pregnant foster cat who gave birth a couple of days after she arrived. I got up to find that 4 kittens had been born overnight and she'd got them all settled in her box and was feeding them. For the first few days I was just amazed every time I went in her room and they were all still alive and cuddled up with mum.

Snorkelling in the Indian Ocean we saw a whale shark. It took my breath away and was one of those 'life doesn't get much better than this' moments.

We were in Egypt years ago in late August and saw mass migration of geese above us whilst in the red sea. It was amazing. They migrate North.

Taking part in a "hatch and release" of green turtles in a WWF wildlife sanctuary in SE Asia. We were told only a small fraction of the hatchlings (who'd been protected by the sanctuary as eggs) that made it into the sea would survive. Watching these tiny, beautiful creatures fight and fight their way across the sand into huge, dark waters knowing that, despite everyone's best efforts, only a few would make it to adulthood, brought me to tears. Still makes me well up to think of it now.

Sitting with DH in Granada opposite The Alhambra watching the sunset while drinking white wine and eating mussels.

The first time, at 17, when someone said they'd actually missed me.

Watching the sunrise over the Himalayan Mountains

My first trip to Barbados when I was 17. We got to our villa and walked down to the beach, the sun was setting and we stood on the sand and then paddled our feet into the sea and I thought "this is paradise". I have never been somewhere more beautiful.

@YippeeKayakOtherBuckets

I could get that

Looking at the stars in courtmacsherry Ireland right on the beach, having never seen such a clear sky with no light pollution (live in London) it was pure magic for me!

Walking my dog down a deserted beach in wales at 5am when I couldn’t sleep.
Coming out of ASDA to an unexpected 3” of snow one Christmas Eve and having 5 strangers help carry my trolley to the car through falling snow as the wheels couldn’t get through.
Watching my dog play and snuffle around with a fox he met.
Walking through a snow covered park at night while a harpist practiced in the palm house.
Watching my kids faces when we saw dolphins on a boat trip.
Horse riding on the beach in France as a child and in Iceland as an adult.

Swimming in the sea in Wales in the rain at night with dd, then 7, just because we wanted to.

I know you said not children but holding my very premature baby twins for the first time. I had a crash caesarian under general anaesthetic and I found out later I'd been 5 minutes from losing one or both of them. I went from fast asleep to being in theatre in a couple of minutes. I was traumatised for a very long time but even though I had to wait days to hold them both, tucking those tiny frail bird like bodies onto my chest and looking into their beautiful eyes was magical. It washed away all the worry, fear and pain for those few minutes and I was afraid that I'd struggle to bond but I knew instantly I loved them with everything I have.

Watching the dawn break behind the Eiger from above Adelboden, and then walking down Bonderspitze and seeing chamois and marmots.
Holding DGS for the very first time, and realising that I might have been a okay dad after all.
Thrihnukagigur, the hollow volcano in Iceland. On the same trip, watching Strokkur blow. Also whales.

The very best was DW and I climbing Grooved Arete on Tryfan, driving 200 miles and getting home at 0130, getting up at 0600, driving 100 miles to the fertility clinic, and getting the bullseye. She was covered in bruises from camming devices and hexentrics: "What exactly are you beating your wife with?"

property you’ve made me cry.

@WingBingo sorry to look at my strapping two year olds rampaging around in the garden today throwing dirt and all sorts, you'd never know the start they had.

Motorbike journey whole day through the jungle in Chiangmai, thailand. Saw waterfalls , jungle, swam in a lake, ate lunch in a cabana and stayed too late in one of the national parks and got locked in. One of the best days of my entire life

Also a day on the beach in buscombe with my husband who was my boyfriend at the time in the blazing heat after deciding we were too happy away and didn't want to come home so we extended our holiday from Devon on the way back

I also love being in Devon and Cornwall full stop. They are my happiest place in the world

I was by a river today and I saw a kingfisher. It perched on a branch just long enough for me to recognise it before flying away.

I’ve always wanted to.