Do you remember the joy ?

After 10 yrs of trying for one baby, I ended-up with a toddler & twins!!! All boy's. It was madness, lovely chaotic madness though.
Happy day's apart from the episode of projectile vomiting & non-stop diarrhoea. Which seemed to last an eternity & then percolated down to my husband & myself, whi!e they were running around with their pants on their heads. 😊

I certainly don't remember moments of joy when I was a child. Life was very serious. A fun free void.
However, since then there have been times of great joy and laughter mostly with my grandchildren but also with daft colleagues at work. I've laughed till I cried at times. Hoping for more fun.

A regular simple joy for me was when the DC and my late DH would sit around the table after the meal
I had cooked, all happily talking away for ages,(certainly not something I had as a child) I would get a real joyful glow and the picture often flashes into my mind.
I do miss those days, but glad to have had them.

Lovely memories. Moments of pure joy are hard to come by - more so as you get older, but I do think as we get older we learn to appreciate them more. When you’re younger you think life is full of them! I had a moment yesterday. When I took my own children to the paddling pool at the park I can remember them happily playing with others and me sitting with the picnic. Yesterday I went in with my little granddaughter and got sopping wet down to my knickers, running through the fountains and splashing. ‘Grandma, we are laughing so much aren’t we!’ Definitely a moment of joy I won’t forget.

Allira - I'm remembering 1976 too. My younger daughter was born on this very day (11th). Running up to the birth I wore my bikini in the garden and my great big belly got very brown.........after the birth I remember it had shrunk back to a completely black colour - just like a deflated black balloon!

Monica, I totally agree watching the Tour De France is a sight to behold. We took our 4 children to France and took a day trip to Saint Nazaire. We met a man who overheard our conversation and asked where we were from. It turned out he was from a small village near to us. He told us to go to the main square as the Tour De France was setting off from there. It was such a wonderful experience the children were given goody bags.

There were no good disposable nappies when my older ones were babies so Harrington towelling nappies it was, but at least there were nappy liners to catch the worst 😀

DD said she remember her Dad getting the sprinkler out and they would dash to and fro under the cold shower. Until there was a hosepipe ban, of course.

Joys been in short supply recently,it's been a hard slog.Im mid 70s now but still working part time, and covering colleagues holidays too .My turn to be off in a couple of weeks!
My children's school holidays were filled with long slow days, we rarely went away as I was widowed young and money was tight. We went on a lot of bike rides and long walks,days out to the sea.
I'm feeling the heat too much for enjoyment today, but the early mornings and light evenings are lovely

Oh yes the joy! This thread has made me smile, and brought back memories from the mid 80s when my girls were tiny. I too used terry nappies as we couldn’t afford disposable ones. I loved getting them on the washing line along with the little dressses etc. Summer days with picnics (sometimes in the garden) then the paddling pool, Wendy house, dolls and toys on the lawn, baby in the pram with the sun canopy. I miss those days so much, life seems so hectic now for young families.
I do still love to get washing on the line and hate to miss a good drying day - blimey that makes me sound like a real old f@*t 😂

Yes, I also recall an old photo I have of my eldest son at about 2, sitting stark naked in a little paddling pool under the apple tree and just content to mess about. I was pregnant and was on a lounger I think. Just a simple, happy pleasure. I think life has sadly become unnecessarily complicated for many of us now…and not just because we’re older.

This weather reminds me of the joy of having small children out in the garden in the pools and water slides and the ease of drying washing a bonus . Sometimes I find it so hard these days to hold on to the joys of small things

I couldn’t afford disposable nappies for my twins so terry nappies it was, and after being in a bucket of Nappysan they went into the machine for a hot wash and then line dried and finished off in the tumble dryer to get them soft. I always remember looking after a friend’s baby one day and his nappy was grey and rough and hard, poor little thing.I changed him into a white soft one and hoped my friend would appreciate the difference.
Happy days, especially when Mum popped in with a home made cake.

We are so lucky, living in the countryside we feel joy most days, ranging around on the footpaths, listening to the skylarks and watching rabbits and butterflies. Our sunsets are glorious. We have no street lights so the stars are visible.
My sister who lives in London doesn't understand why we aren't bored, but we notice every little change in the plants and trees through the year.

Love my memories of long hot summers with my DS when he was little! We lived by the sea & would spend most days on the beach & in the sea as it was a lot cleaner then!

to me though we were broke and I had to wash by hand, seeing all my terry nappies blowing on the line. the sunshine used to bleach them white and they smelt good. i was relieved when I got a twin tub which most people sneered at as they were onto automatics but I loved mine. I did eventually get an automatic but would go back to a twin tub in a heartbeat. washing seemed so clean and spun out so nearly dry. i did at one time have a single washing tub and a spinner on its own. mum had similar but her washer had a wringer on the top so did not really need a spinner.
of course down side of nappies was the sorting before washing; liners to be flushed down the loo we had an old outside loo we did that in then buckets of dirty nappies soaking in the outhouse ready to be washed but still prefer to disposables.
Paddling pools are brilliant me and my sister had great fun in ours but the icy water took your breath away at first.
I have pics of my baby daughter nearly 39 years ago in hers. i was heavily pregnant with my 2nd and the water looked so cool and inviting that when my daughter went in for a nap i stripped down to my undies and sat in the paddling pool! for a pregnant lady it was heaven!

Our garden was the playground for all the children in the neighborhood.
It was so good to see them having fun in the sandpit and paddling pool.
I was the supplier of ice lollies, drinks and biscuits so my garden was popular.
When my three were bathed and fast asleep I would hang out my washing. It would be dry in the morning and another day of fun would start.
I was relieved in September when they all went back to school.

HelterSkelter1

The pram and the canopy. Lovely memories. I saw a small child crunched into a buggy this morning with hot sun already on his legs and remembered how lovely a pram was for a small child. A hot water bottle and blankets in the winter and a canopy with a broderie anglais cover and legs free to kick and be cool. Joy for me...and for the DC

I remember that too. My twin doll’s pram had a canopy too, to stop Juliette and Angela getting too hot. ❤️

Yes, I posted it on the Good Morning threads pantsglas I should perhaps have put it on here.

I remember lovely hot summers staying at our caravan. My sister and I would make daisy chains for our heads. Once we made one for Dad and were quite disappointed when he wouldn't wear it.

We are lucky enough to live on the seafront. I used to get everything ready so as soon as my three children had finished school we would go straight on the beach and stayed until their father came home from work about 6ish then we would all have one more swim then back home for some food then bed. Even when they were at secondary school they used to come home and go straight into the sea either surfing or water skiing ,it makes me smile to see them doing exactly the same with their own children.

I think FGTs post of little uns waiting for the train is a joyful scene 👏

I never fail to smile when I see crocodiles of toddlers holding hands being shepherded along a zebra crossing!

Samsara1

I agree with henetha joy is in short supply these days. Having got over several illnesses and a hospital admission DH has now fallen over while out for a walk and cracked his ribs which curtails our joy for a while AGAIN!!! I'm horrible aren't I?

No. I hope he recovers well, it takes time (I know, I've done that twice). Take it easy in this hot weather.

I'm remembering 1976 .... say no more!

We lived near the beach too, a 15 minute drive if DH was away with work and I had the car!

You're not horrible, Samsaral. It's only human to feel fed up with the situation, even though you know perfectly well that it's not his fault. I hope he gets better soon so that you can have some more joy together.

I disagree that joy in in short supply. I had a lovely joyful day yesterday with DD.

We are in holiday in Normandy, DD is a Tour de France enthusiast and yesterday the Tour started in Bayeux. We had a lovely joyous day in Bayeux, experiencing all the fun of the start of the race.

We left early got to Bayeux in time to park near the town centre walked around, drank coffee, watched the huge procession of dressed up cars and floats of all the sponsors and caught a collection of the bits and pieces they were throwing out, sun hats, shopping bags, bags of pasta, biscuits and coffee, depending on the products of the sponsor.

We then watched the introduction of the teams on the main stage and then found somewhere to watch the depart. the teams were cycling quite slowly as the race doesn't start until they are out of town and a flag is waved. We shouted and cheered and took photos and finally we found a shady cafe and had croque monsieur and cold drinks for lunch before heading home.

It was a wonderful and truly joyous day and I am still kept warm by the remembered joy.