What are your happiest childhood memories?

[NoEffingWay]

I have the most simple but wonderful day with DS. We have been to the garden centre, had lunch there and then bought some plants which we planted together. I have cleaned the house so it's shiny like a new pin, made an easy but nice dinner and DS is now chilling in the bath whilst I sit on MN and have a ginger beer.

It reminded me of the Sundays we would often have as children, with the exception that we would often have a Sunday roast and I don't often bother with one! The joy of not doing much. We didn't have much money but just being together was wonderful.

It's been a tough few years what with a divorce mid-covid but days like today remind me that I have made the right decision. DS is beaming with happiness and I am feeling so positive about life.

Some of my fondest memories now are of things I considered slightly dull at the time, like Sundays at my Grandad's house, eating soup and bread while listening to the adults talking with the sound of a GAA match in the background.

But I also remember the things that made me happiest at the time, like setting out into the dark field with friends on a winter evening with light up yoyos and light sabres, or a birthday party at a roller disco.

I guess if we are lucky we have memories of solid comforting routine punctuated by sparkling exciting events.

Most of mine are actually from special occasions. They're not specific memories as much as feelings - the feeling of waking up on Christmas morning and reaching out with my toe to find a full stocking; also from Christmas, the feeling of walking around the neighbourhood after dark looking at everyone's trees in the bay windows; the feeling of arriving at a tiny, remote Greek island in the evening and seeing the harbour lights shining in the water and knowing what a special fortnight we were about to have.

One I have from a normal day - we went to visit friends in the countryside and had a walk over fields near their house. It was winter and everything was frosty, and the light was getting paler and paler as we headed back to their house. You could see the house lights from across the field and I remember thinking how incredibly cosy it looked, and then we got inside and there were scones that the Mum had stayed home to bake, which we ate in their kitchen - all low beams and an open fire. I thought it was the most idyllic home ever. Later on, the father got sent to prison (something otherwise unheard of in our group of friends and family) and my parents would never tell me why. I find it so hard to marry up that fact with my memory of that day.