What Makes Things Special

I just read Simon's blog on his insights on what makes things special: http://sinekpartners.typepad.com/refocus/2011/07/small-is-special.html

I agree about the small part and about the making it personal. However, I have to say that I have had some really special personal moments that had more to do with where my head was at at the time I made a note of the specialness of the event, than the size of the event. For example, I took a trip to Vienna with my Mom before she was unable to travel. When I booked the trip, I didn't book it because Vienna was some place I wanted to go. I booked it because it was the place that my Mom had always dreamed about going. Because of her physical frailness at the time, we took a small trip in the AM, then would return to our Bed and Breakfast, lunch, and take a nap, and then we would take a trip in the evening. I went with no expectations except to make a dream of hers come true. I booked all the events she wanted to see, and yet, in the end, it was one of the most magical and special times that she and I were able to spend together before her death. We took the trip over Easter time. One of the events that I booked was a concert at St. Stephens Church featuring Kathleen Battle and the Vienna Boys Choir. I am not an Opera fan to speak of, though I have always enjoyed the Boys Choir. The concert was magical and the setting surreal. Another evening we were sitting outside our Bed and Breakfast, which happened to be right next to the Vienna School for the Arts. The sun was setting, we were having a glass of wine, and as we were sitting there just enjoying the evening a woman started singing an aria that was so touching, so beautiful and so unplanned. It brought my Mom to tears, and for me was one of the high-points of the myriad of unplanned but treasured memories that we amassed. I guess what I'm sharing is that there are so many ways to lend meaning to any given moment. I look for every opportunity to lend meaning to NOW, to make NOW special, magical, memorable. If I use only emails to bring meaning to NOW, then shame on me. I would hope that I am constantly building my resources to enrich what ever time I have left and to touch lives and lend dimension, including emails. I hope that, in the end, the math of my life adds up to positively impacting the lives of others, even if it's as small as 1+1+1, or on a larger scale.