Firework Moments

The first weekend home. This was an exciting time for my teammates and I as we had been in office for about two weeks. I had everything planned out: dinner with a friend Friday night, see fireworks with another friend Saturday night, and church and a pool party on Sunday. I didn’t realize how much I truly missed my friends and family until I was driving home. The two weeks of office went by in the blink of an eye. As a team, we had already made so many memories together, but I was anxious to get home.

On Saturday, I went to see fireworks with my best friend (besides the six other hooligans I live with right now). Her family met us at the school where we would set up to eat and watch the show. We chatted about what was new in our lives and how we missed each other until the fireworks started. Her younger cousin was sitting on her lap and he was getting impatient. He asked how long the show would last because he wanted it to be over. She told him, “you have to cherish these moments because you’ll never remember them.” A simple response that had the intent to calm down a young child had me thinking about how, not only the past two weeks, but my entire 18 years of existence had flown by and I rarely took the time to slow down and enjoy it.

We move too quickly through life, but the smallest moments can have the largest impact. Like fireworks, memories come and they are so often that we don’t remember specific ones that are the most meaningful. Take the time to collect pictures, start journaling, or in some way document the things you want to remember. Memories are a dime a dozen, but you may not realize how important one is until you reminisce on the good times. Cherish the firework moments.

Let it shine,

Brittany Gonzales

State Secretary