Not gone

Our friends from Southbeach came to visit at the weekend, one couple with their two sons staying with us in our flat, another couple camping nearby.

We cooked breakfast for everyone on Sunday 18 March 2012, then went into town, where there was a science fair.

We said our goodbyes afterwards and I returned home with my wife to the flat, the mess and the quiet.

As I washed up and put away the pots and plates, I thought back over the weekend.

Before beginning this process of remembering, I think there would have been a hint of sadness as the glow of energy and happiness of the weekend started its slow fade.

But now I realised it was different as I reviewed the day and selected the key images that would be the memory tags to pin to my internal calendar.

Adrian, four-years-old, at the science fair, where he had joyfully run from experiment to experiment, having his photograph taken dressed in a white lab coat and over-sized goggles.

Simon, six, spotting a one-legged homeless man in a wheelchair playing a tin whistle and running after his mum for a coin to give to him.

This was a glimpse of their natures that will become part of my memory of them as I watch them grow from afar.

The past is over, but it is not gone if I remember it.