soulmate Ex GF.
There are many beautiful mmoments. Here's the first.

My first true love...

We split due to distance. Neither of us had a car or the funds to visit each other.

The year after we split, I discovered "student Loans" and would have gone to visit her in an instant if only I had known that she wanted me to. She told me 4 years too late.

People change, time moves on, and the world keeps on spinning. Here's that magic moment in time:

She lived in Channel Islands, I lived in Shropshire. Our lives at different schools in the lake district touched briefly, and we vowed to make sure they touched more often. I was 18, she was 17.

She rode a horse, I rode a bike. We arranged a meeting somewhere on teh big road between our two schools... It was bloody freezing, and we were both so nervous and excited that we rode right past each other TWICE and didn't say a word.
The next meeting was more successful, and it became the start of a great partnership.
We had undisturbed afternoons of bliss, and rode over fell and dale together. It was a partnership of mutual escapement.

One particular summer afternoon before we were even officially a couple, we stopped on the banks of the River Lune, surrounded by nothing but hills and open fields. We tethered her horse to a horse-chesnut tree, and spent the afternoon rolling on the riverbank, and giggling as we stuffed each other's clothes with grass.

We fell asleep in each other's arms to the sound of the river happily gurgling, and bees buzzing around the flowers.
In a world of exams and school, I'd found true happyness with this lass.
It's a memory that will never ever leave me: warm sun, her head on my chest, and the smell of fresh grass.
( Humpty Dumpty was Pushed Is unaware of having any limits., Fri 11 Mar 2005, 11:06, Reply)

Holding my daughter for the first
time, and seeing her little face looking up at me
( Plomien is Polish for flame, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 11:03, Reply)

A couple really...
1) The birth of my daughter. Nine months of pregnancy, 21 hours of labour, 2 hours in theatre and what emerges is the most beautiful being you have ever seen. Nine and a bit months later and Catfish Jnr is still the most beautiful thing to enter Mr & Ms Catfish's lives (even with all the shit, piss, sick and crying).

2) Walking along the beach of Lake Wanaka in New Zealand (South Island) with my (now) wife. Just had a fantastic meal and making our way back to the B&B. Sit down to rest and look at a sky with more stars than you could ever imagine, a warm breeze gently stroking us and bringing the smells and sounds of a foreign land to us.
( Johnny Catfish - Yowsa!, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 11:01, Reply)

edinburgh castle NYE 01-02
if you've never been to Edinburgh Castle let me set the scene. the castle sits at the top of a hill aptly named castle hill, and it has a pebbled forecourt beautifully ringed by panoramic views of Edinburgh. at around 1am after having swept a gorgeous girl (read: a bit fat with a massive forehead) off her feet and had the obligatory new years snog, we find our selves at castle hill; me standing looking out over Edinburgh, her sitting down on the fence with her plump round face buried in my trousers.... "happy new years" was my internal monologue, "happy...fucking...nnnghhh...new years..."
(kalimah, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 11:00, Reply)

bliss
going to the river cafe in new york (on the brooklyn side under the brooklyn bridge) on valentine's day last year after proposing to my (now) fiancee - seeing her face, looking out over the manhattan skline, knowing we had a week there, and picking the ring up from Tiffany's the next day. Beautiful.

Also running full pelt into the water fully clothed with her whilst on holiday in lanzarote the year before - beautiful meal, starry night, lots of water and RUN! just laughing and holding her. good stuff!
(ruttiger, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 10:56, Reply)

Sodomising my first toddler
Happy days
(a_monkey_spanker, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 10:55, Reply)

Incredibly sappy...
...but for me it was sitting on a bench one night in Cardiff, looking into my (then) new girlfriend's eyes and realising that she really was 'the one'. That was nine years ago now, and yes, she still is 'the one'.

There was nothing special going on around us, we'd just left a party but neither of us were drunk, and it was a miserable October evening, but it was special.
( Irregular Shed is trying to remember what it is he does, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 10:43, Reply)

Salzburg castle 1989
Me and a couple of school mates were doing the inter-rail thing. Early evening climbed up the steps to the castle which is surrounded by fantastic mountain scenery. Crystal clear air, warm glow from sun which is performing the most spectacular sunset just for us. Then, cue the soundtrack...I heavenly choir started up somewhere in the background. It stopped us dead in our tracks and becalmed our raging hormones (at least for a little while).
(Gusofnavarone always makes a map of france from sarnies, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 10:38, Reply)

how many do you want?
Hand fasting, conducting our own ceremony in the local wildlife park, on the 10th anniversary of our getting together...

Whenever I walk hand in hand with my son or daughter, whenever they molest me too...

Leading the walk down & bowing for a local musical produciton last year...

Whenever my son makes a terrible pun...

eeeh, I am, in the words of John Peel, content almost to the point of smugness
( Argh-wrath ... is a very lame Glorantha joke, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 10:30, Reply)

Waking up beneath the stars on the beach in Cancun
On holiday in Cancun, Mexico with my girlfriend, we'd had a moleste, fantastic evening meal and gone out for a moonlit walk on the deserted beach. We lied down on a sun lounger, in each others arms, looked up at the beatiful stars above, and started to talk about life, the universe, our future, and everything.

The next thing I knew, I woke up and it was 2:30 am, and she was fast asleep next to me, still curled up in my arms beneath the moon.

Awwwwww.......!
( Young Master Ploppy, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 10:29, Reply)

Nostalgia's not what it used to be....
As we were on the bones of our arses (it means poor, for those of you unfamiliar with the term...), we decided to honeymoon on the cheap. We managed to get flights to Luxor in Egypt and half-board accomodation all for under £200 each, which even 12 years ago was still a bargain. The reason it was so cheap was because several tourists had been shot recently by some sort of rebel force, and the tourist trade wasn't exactly booming at the time, but what the hey....!
Anyway, as we were doing everything on the cheap, rather than pay for all the usual trips being run by the travel companies, we hired pushbikes from the hotel and did things our way. One day on our way up to the valley of the kings, we were accosted by some locals as we passed through their village and persuaded to stop off and translate some letters for them. One bloke who owned a shop dragged us inside for tea and typical Egyptian hospitality (as opposed to being shot)and when we got talking he announced that his 'cousin' had some camels if we wanted to go for a ride. It seemed like a good idea, so we arranged to go back a couple of days later. The day arrived and we duly crossed the Nile again and cycled back to his shop. After keeping us talking for about half an hour, and just as we were beginning to suspect that the camels might not materialise, lo and behold they appear! Ten minutes later and we are both astride a 'ship of the desert' and being led through a field full of sugar cane, way off the beaten path. We passed through tiny villages where some of the kids had never even seen a Westerner before, and on for about an hour, where one of the guys snuck us into one of the bigger tombs (one of the Rameses, but I can't remember which one)that was closed to the public at the time. We then stopped off at the guy's 'aunt's' house, where we were given tea (again) and shown her livestock - apparently she was quite a celebrity in the village because she had a donkey and some chickens! We then rode back through the sugar cane fields - our guides breaking stems off and chewing them as they led us back (I don't recommend this bit - we tried it and it tasted foul, and our guides had teeth that made Shane McGowan look like Donny Osmond). One of my most enduring memories - and I'll carry this to my dying day - was of being astride this camel, with my new bride ahead of me on her camel, the sugar cane either side of us, the mountains in the distance, hazy through the sunshine, but above all, the quiet. Apart from the noise of the animals hooves in the dirt, and the odd insect buzzing about, it was almost silent. A truly magical experience, that will stay with me for ever.....


Then I was at the birth of both my daughters, and that experience knocked everything else into a cocked hat! Gentlemen, I don't care how squeamish you are - and believe me, I AM - be there at the birth of your children....nothing else will ever come close....

No apologies. Ever.
(Desolation Angel, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 10:28, Reply)

When I killed my first man
Bliss.
(JamScones, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 10:27, Reply)

Sad old geezer here with a son .....
It's gotta be when they bought my son out to see me for the first time after the emergency c-section on the missus.....

All the way through the pregnancy all of the old wives tales had insisted she was carrying a girl; we didn't find out the sex on the scans, since we were looking forward to the surprise.

Then the due date comes... and goes... and then she goes in to be induced... and three days later labour starts: 24 hours of pain later the baby is still a no-show: the diminutive nurse looks at the bab's heart rate, says "the baby's in distress: he's coming out NOW: dad - sit THERE and wait."

So I did..... now our birth plan called for me to lift the baby onto the wife's chest when it was born and then announce the sex to her... well - the nurses must've read that plan, cos' even though we didn't follow it, they brought him out, all wrapped up, and said "Unwrap your baby...'

So I did... and cried in delight when I saw it was a boy - my first words were "fuckin' 'ell son! - you had us all thinkin' you was a girl!"

And then I held him.... now THAT is Beautiful Moment Number One...
(chairman_of_the_peoples_democratic_republic_of_birmingham, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 10:19, Reply)

plaing hide and seek..
...on a cruise ship somewhere in the middle of the Mediterranean at 3am.
(VD maaaaaooooooaaaaaaaaammm, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 10:17, Reply)

Lying on Jesus Green
in Cambridge towards the tail end of summer, a warm breeze brushing past me and blue skies overhead. The sound of said breeze through the trees and lots of language students playing football. I lay there for half an hour completely enthralled by it all.
(Dinsdale v Spiny Norman, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 10:12, Reply)

Several
Got a few...

Summer of 2004 in Kos with mates, having an absolute laugh. Every time i hear Eric Prydz - Call on me, it takes me back to lazy nights sitting at the bar chilling out till 3am.

Also, many years ago with an ex on bonfire night at Loughborough uni, in the freezing cold watching the fireworks holding each other with not a care in the world.

Holding the hand of my sisters first child who was 3 months premature, knowing that he will live.
(Fishbone-didi, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 10:12, Reply)

Eating clay


The most beautiful moment of my life was when I delved into the fine cuisine of clay eatery... what?!
(edgey the krage, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 10:11, Reply)

I was sat lost in contemplation.
It was a beautiful starlit evening, with the Croesian riches of the heavens displayed for all to see, like a handful of splinters of diamonds and silver strewn with abandon across a rich tapestry of deepest blue and darkest black velvet. The edges were tinged with the faintest ruby glow as the sun bade us goodmorrow, and as I consumed this ocular feast, a fleeting thought, tenuous as the softest lace and as swift as the swallow, flitted across by mind:


What *has* happened to the roof of my shithouse?

/coat.
(Phil not DS, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 10:04, Reply)

Nothing Else Matters
1998 watching Metallica at the Milton Keynes Bowl up on the hill, fires dotted all around, 60,000 odd people below me loving Metallica.

Nothing Else Matters starts and for the whole song a single firework is slowly floating down out of the sky.

It was a beautiful moment in a fairly chaotic time of my life, better than drugs or at least all the drugs I've taken.
(Inglorious_Other, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 10:00, Reply)

Portimao at night...
Algarve, portugal, sat on the street, there was a roast chestnut selling lady, the hue of white sparkly lights from above, sipping on a coffee with a warm sea breeze.

Then a portugese chap started playing amazing slow spanish guitar on the balcony, just closing my eyes and remembering it is still warming... mmm... lovely
(Uresu, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 9:53, Reply)

It was a beautiful, crisp morning in a camp-site near Rothbury, Northumberland.
I awoke to the sound of birds singing and the invigorating feeling of fresh air. I was soaking wet and my head hurt. Lots.

As my senses returned, I realised I was lying in some mud. I sat up and banged my head on a swing above me. My bruised and bloodied head.

It started coming back to me - the night in the camp-site bar, not knowing it was open until the last person left, we got hammered well before 11. Then leaving and finding the kiddies playground between the bar and our tent.
I remember trying to get the swing going standing-up, slipping off, hitting the ground and sitting up - just in time for the swing to come back down and twat me in the back of the head - then blackness.

I started thinking what sort of a friend would leave me out here, unconscious in the middle of a field. I turned around and there was my mate, face down on the round-a-bout (which was slowly rotating in the wind) with a lovely ring of vomit around it's circumference.
Ahh. That sort of friend.

I woke him up and only then did I look up to see that we were in the centre of a lovely family camp-site with just about every caravan having people nice and warm, eating breakfast watching us. (There was even a small group of curious children stood by us waiting to use the play-ground).

We started shuffling towards our tent (only about 30m from the bar... how did neither of us make it home?) only to hear a shout from one of the caravans. We went over and a nice lady said "We were wondering when you two might wake-up. We're making you a fried breakfast - have some coffee" and THAT was my beautiful moment.
( Zak McFlimby Twibbling @McFlimby, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 9:51, Reply)

maidstone...
Having swalled something pill shaped for the first time and feeling like I was hospital bound for 20 minutes, I felt like the world went grey, sounded like it was underwater and everything slowed down. The scariest feeling I have ever had.... then.

from nowhere the sound of Halcyon On and On by Orbital started to mount in the background and. Salvation! I felt like I was reborn, everything became warm, colourful and .... lovely :D With a load of people that were amazing friends just drifting away to music and moleste grins

:)
(Uresu, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 9:47, Reply)

At dusk, during a hot summer's evening in Brighton
Solo saxaphone playing as I wander through the Pavilion Gardens.

Also... Evening rush-hour some years ago, outside Victoria station, in the arms of my then girlfriend, crowds rushing past us but we didn't care or notice.
(Glen Moranjie, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 9:47, Reply)

first time
i did a coconut bong.

after the initial nausea and the getting lost on the way to the toilet thing.

oh yeah, and two summers ago, travelling back from the south bank after spending the afternoon drinking at the founders and running thru thunderstorms with my lady.

we were wet thru on the train, holding each other. wonderful
(magictorch, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 9:43, Reply)

Sax of Jazz
Living in Edinburgh Circa 1998

Summer evening, full moon, slight breeze. Walking through the Meadows (It's a park in Edinburgh for those who dont know) thinking what a great night I've just had drinking, smoking and watching some live bands.

Then some student starts playing a Lisa Simpson-esque dramatic Saxamaphone dirge out of thier window.

I felt like I was in some sort of Film Noir (Especially since I was wearing a trenchcoat and black fedora) then of course to round the evening off I stood on a dogs egg...

Joy...
(that fox person Yer dug's goat tits..., Fri 11 Mar 2005, 9:42, Reply)

Predictable
but, the birth of my daughter and the first time I was old enough to buy Razzle.
( DrPoppers Touched by his noodly appendage, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 9:39, Reply)

Woo, i'm the first to post!
mwhahaha - damn ive been beaten!
Friday 6pm is usually a beautiful moment - it's the longest possible time until i have to go back to work again!
(Ghost Batty Rider, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 9:24, Reply)

woo
this moment!
Ok, now I've had that, everythings going downhill....
But other than that, picture if you will two lovers lounging in bed one Sunday afternoon in early summer 1998, the sun lazily shining in though the windows of a newly rented flat. Struck by how deleriously happy I was at such a simple moment, I proposed. And reader, he accepted.
(...................., Fri 11 Mar 2005, 9:23, Reply)