Now is normal, however, in the future "now" will be the past

When I think of "the past" I think of what was "normal" -  the house I grew up in, people we knew who lived near, school, Girls' Brigade, shops like Curries in Stoke where I bought pencils and little books to write in, Hurst and Taylor the chemist where, after some serious saving up I bought a "grown up" handcream set, and Tratherns in Nelson where there was always a sale on.

When I was in my late teens and early 20's "normal" included going to Polytech, working in the city, whizzing around the shops in my lunch hour, taking the bus to work every day ...

This is now totally foreign to how I live now.   What happened to "Granny Scotts Bakery" where I bought my favourite blueberry pies?   And that beautiful hushed, thickly carpeted jewellery store with the expensive trinkets and baubles where I purchased probably the cheapest thing they had, but in my eyes, the most beautiful - a cut-glass teardrop shaped pendant.

With these thoughts running around my mind recently I stood in the supermarket, watching my wonderful seven year old unload the trolley and put everything onto the conveyor belt.  The other children were sitting on the bench seat at the end of the checkouts, swinging their legs and looking around,  and I thought "This is NOW.  This is what the children are going to remember "going to the shops" was like when they were young.  This is normal for them. This is THEIR TIME."

So on the way home we took a photo account of "their neighbourhood" from the shops home.  One day it won't be like this for them.

I guess Mummies can be so caught up in the moment that we forget that the moment passes so very quickly.  Some afternoons it can feel like years since I got out of bed in the morning, and weeks till bedtime.

But it isn't.  Time is an unusual thing, created by God for humans.  When our older boys start to talk with Daddy about time and space it gives me a headache and I am happy to remain trustingly clueless on this subject.

But, for now, here are some of our photos for you to enjoy.