Simply a Moment [November]: My Super-hero Sibling

Hello you.

I'm joining in again with 'Simply A Moment' - a blogging meme hosted by Alexa at Trimming the Sails, who  reminds us once a month to stop and document a fleeting moment of time.

[To learn more you can read Alexa's tips on how to record your own moments and if you do join in, there's a link box on her November moment for you to add yours.]

I actually forgot I was meant to consciously memorise a moment on the 15th ... until the 16th! And while Alexa always stresses that it's perfectly fine to choose another day ... when I thought back to the previous day to see if I could remember back to anything worth capturing ... one vivid, perfectly formed, moment leapt to mind.

And this is it ...

My Super-hero Sibling

Date: Friday 15th November 2013
Time: 12.30 pm-ish
Location: Mam + Dad's hallway.

The party preparations are fully underway now.

Mam's juggling quiches, pies and finger food in the kitchen; Dad's sprinting around the house with a toolbox tending to last minute tasks and really, all that's left for Jo [the birthday girl] and I to do is the fancy bits:

• pinning up the rows of comic-book style bunting we've been preparing for weeks;
• finding the best spot for the paper pom-pom garlands;

oh and ...

• the small task of turning the hallway of a suburban house into a Tardis / superhero themed photo-booth complete with dressing-up box and props so ...

... not that much to do really ...  

Every time a crowd-pleaser style song comes on the radio [an all request day on Radio 2 in aid of Children in Need] Mam asks Jo [who's created a 16 hour playlist for her party tonight]:

"Have you got this one on there?"

And every time Jo replies:

"No" ... then shoots me a 'but I have got 16 hours worth of other songs on there and people are bound to like some of them' look.

I move the step ladder into the hall so I can reach up to pin a pom-pom garland to the ceiling of the 'Tardis'. [As if, with all that time on his hands, the Doctor had taken up papercrafting.]

Standing on the top of the three steps I manage to press the pin into the plaster and successfully hang the garland and then ...

... I start to tilt backwards ... and [no Dr.Who pun intended but ...] time begins to bend and to stretch out, giving me time to think a lot of things in just a few seconds.

Things like:

• Uh-oh ... this feels a bit unsafe ... but I'll be able to right myself in a second ... I always do. It'll be fine.

Followed swiftly by ..

• I'm flapping my arms like something in a cartoon ...
• This isn't getting any better ... I'm still tipping backwards ...
• OK ... there's nothing I more I can do about this ... this will either really hurt ... or else someone will just have to catch me!

And with that ... I slipped off the ladder ...

... straight into my sister's arms!

The second thing she said to me after her extraordinary catch was:

"I quite literally 'had your back' there!!"

And didn't she just?

And ... if I was prone to sentimentality I would leave that story right there. On a profound, life-affirming note. All metaphorically perfect. She had my back then ... and always. Except ...

... I think I'd rather end this moment by telling you the first thing she said after she prevented me from falling backwards on to a hard floor as I think it gives a far more accurate portrayal of sibling relationships ...

... because, the first thing she said after grabbing me was:

"Urgh!! I just touched your boob!!"

Now that's what I've come to expect from a sister!

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If you'd like to read more 'moments' do drop by Alexa's ... and thank you for reading mine.

Julie :-)