Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Which single memory would you choose to remember forever?

27 replies

Clawdy · 02/09/2022 15:18

A film called After Life mentioned in a magazine last week is about people after death being allowed to choose one memory to last for eternity. All other memories will be erased! What would you choose? Think mine would be on holiday when I was nineteen, sitting on a beach one night with a lovely Irish boy, gazing out to sea whilst he sang She Moved Through The Fair.

OP posts:
ShadowoftheFall · 02/09/2022 15:20

A happy family lunch from when my dh was still alive. All of us around the table laughing.

Valhalla17 · 02/09/2022 15:20

The look my son gave me when he was born and we both locked eyes.

Itsvalentino · 02/09/2022 15:21

What a great question, I don’t have an answer yet, but will come back after some thought.

My initial thought was the birth of my children, but they were both premature and both really poorly, so I’m not sure I want to rethink those moments over n over.

MrsTerryPratchett · 02/09/2022 15:22

That's awful because my DGM and DD never met so I can't keep both of them.

I refuse.

MessyBunPersonified · 02/09/2022 15:28

I'm not sure I could pick one.

My dc never met their brother, who died before they were born, and my older two only briefly met my dd, who died shortly after birth.

They were never all together so I really couldn't choose.

TheSoundOfMucus · 02/09/2022 15:30

I can’t remember this anymore…but..the sound of my dad’s voice and the way he smelt.

Igotmylipstickon · 02/09/2022 15:34

Plenty of great memories, but probably the night I met DH many moons ago. Fancied him big time at first sight, butterflies in my stomach. He smiled at me and asked me to dance. Been together since.

TheMinuteYouWalkedInTheJoint · 02/09/2022 15:37

I need 2, the very moment both my children were born. The love, the euphoria and their beautiful little faces. I could relive that again and again

ShinyPikachu · 02/09/2022 15:39

My granny's 90th birthday as we managed to get almost all the family together for it and it was such a lovely, happy time.

It was the last time we had so many of us together before her funeral a couple of years later and I would definitely prefer to remember the happy occasion.

whatthejuice · 02/09/2022 15:40

When I brought my youngest child home from the hospital and my oldest met him for the first time. That moment will stay with me forever.

stopitstopitnow · 02/09/2022 16:17

Me, DD and DSD's 1st holiday after their dad had left us for OW (DSD was living with us 100% at the time). After months of uncertainty we had the court's approval for DSD to stay with me and DD. As I sat on the beach watching them play together and laughing I just wanted to freeze that moment in time forever.

stopitstopitnow · 02/09/2022 16:18

By "stay with me" I mean live with me.

coodawoodashooda · 02/09/2022 16:19

What an overwhelming question!

Pallisers · 02/09/2022 16:22

the night my now dh told me he loved me for the first time. it was magical.

I also have a memory of holding my eldest when he was about 18 months and singing to him that song "someday when you're old and grey" and had such a feeling that time would go by so quickly and I would look back at that moment and wish I was there with him in that exact moment again.

Wouldloveanother · 02/09/2022 16:23

about 15 minutes after DD was born, we were wheeled into a little room and left there for about an hour. It was a really nice summer’s evening, sunshine coming in through the window, I just remember feeling so ecstatic the birth was over and that we were both ok. I had my tea and toast (heaven) while DH dressed DD and brought her over for a cuddle. It was so magical and peaceful. So, that!

Sunnytwobridges · 02/09/2022 16:26

There are a few that I could pick but one of my happiest memories is when my first BF proposed to me, it is the happiest memory of my life.

exLtEveDallas · 02/09/2022 16:27

A recent-ish one. The moment that DD opened her GCSE results. She was so convinced that she’d bombed out that the joy on her face when she saw how well she’d done was second to none. It had been a horrible year, but her face, and those of her teachers crowding round her just made me forget everything else in that moment. I never want to forget it.

Ylvamoon · 02/09/2022 16:31

Not sure, I would fìnd it difficult to decide:
One is DC, DH & me on holiday tobogganing on a glacier in Switzerland. It was ourlast proper family holiday before covid ... DC 1 is now 19 and busy doing her own things 😢
The other is fulfilling a childhood dream and seeing Machu Pichu after hiking the inka trail.

Or the one where my dog decided to be friends with DH... after rejecting all other men in my life! I knew then, he's the one! 😄

PermanentTemporary · 02/09/2022 16:36

Oh blimey. One is really difficult.

Now my mum is so disabled, maybe a childhood one. I was on the floor in the sitting room, in front of the fire. It was a normal evening after a meal, and my mum was making me laugh. I might have been 6 or 7. I just remember feeling so happy and loved.

Otherwise (TMI?) maybe the first time a man made me orgasm. I was 49.

Ringmaster27 · 02/09/2022 16:37

I have a clear memory from a year or so ago. I was walking down the pier, sun was just starting set, my DCs were running along ahead of me excited to see all the boats coming in, and I had this overwhelming feeling of happiness. Just watching them, so happy after what was a really difficult year, and feeling like “this is enough”.
If I could hold onto that memory forever, I’d be happy.

StillMissV · 02/09/2022 16:39

We were on our last holiday before covid, before the kids started school and we had our holidays determined by school terms - so our budget had got us far more luxury than we could dream of now.

Lying in a cabana on the powder soft sandy beach, hot sun but a lovely warm breeze on my skin, a beautiful view, both my babies asleep in the shade, my husband on a sun lounger next to us, the sound of the sea and a coconut in my hand with rum in it and knowing I had a whole further week of heaven ahead of me.

Just remembering it makes me well up. If I could bottle happiness it would be that exact moment.

Scarecrowrowboat · 02/09/2022 16:42

The night in hospital after my second child was born. He was in a cosleeping cot and I fell asleep with him holding my hand/finger as he slept.

Dilbertian · 02/09/2022 16:44

Valhalla17 · 02/09/2022 15:20

The look my son gave me when he was born and we both locked eyes.

That's it. Absolutely.

MissingNashville · 02/09/2022 16:44

As it’s only one memory, it would have to be a time with lots of people I love around. Every year we have a couple of long weekends with all our friends and kids and dogs, just spending time together with nice food, drink, music, long walks so it would definitely be something from one of those.

If I could have more it would memories of University, meeting my partner, moving into our first home, having our children, concerts, travelling. I’d hate to have all my memories erased.

Kinsters · 02/09/2022 16:49

Oo tough one. I feel like this moment is still in the future for me as DS is only tiny and I want him to be in my happy memory too but I find the baby stage a relentless slog. At the moment it would have to be either:

  1. Sitting on the prow of a boat in the middle of the ocean in Thailand with my now DH, no cell signal, noone else around (there were plenty of others on the boat but not sat on the prow), happy from days spent diving and relaxing, chatting and looking out for fish and dolphins.

Or perhaps

  1. On holiday with DH and 1 yo DD. DH is still swimming with our friends and their kids but DD was tired so I have taken her out of the pool and wrapped her up in a towel and we are just sitting together eating crisps and watching the world go by.