Life, as we know, is made up of a succession of moments, each of them unique and non-repeatable. It is human nature for us to forget that, to treat each experience as if it is going to last forever or to ignore the reality that a moment is here and then gone. We remember that, I think, when life reminds us of how rapidly change occurs, when we are faced with the fact that, as I always say, life changes in the space between one heartbeat and the next.

I do have moments that I have saved, moments when I thought “I have to remember this, I have to hold onto this.” I have a moment that is so vivid to me even now of perching on my dad’s lap. He was sitting at a chair in my parents’ dining room, as he often did when he did his daily prayers. The chair was pulled out slightly and, rather than sitting with his knees under the table, Dad would sit sideways on the chair, facing toward the living room. He’d just finished his prayers and put his book and other items aside and was sitting and talking to me.

I think I was in high school at the time. And I remember talking to him and then, coming over to sit on one of his knees, putting my arm around him and kissing him on the top of his head. And even now, so many years later with my father gone for not just years but decades, the thought that I had, that I had to “save” the moment, that I had to hold the feeling of loving him and being loved by him. And I am grateful for that.

I would imagine we’ve all saved moments in that way. I have moments with my mother that I recall feeling a need to hold onto as well as with my brother. But the ones that I most often bring to mind are those with my children, especially when they were small. With my youngest, I can clearly remember holding him and feeding him in our bed in the middle of the night. And despite the fact that I was as tired as a mom of three with a full time career is entitled to be, the thought of the moment—that holding that small warm body and smelling the sweetness of his baby head—was something I felt that I needed to preserve, and I did.

Today, I am watching the child of my child turn a year old. Today, I am seeing a little boy where just months ago there was an infant. He is coming into his own, his personality and energy at the forefront, And as I nuzzled into the sweet folds of his neck this morning, I told myself the same thing, that I had to hold onto this moment, to commit it to memory, to keep it all the days of my life.

Our lives are so often lived at breakneck speed. We run from one task to another, one commitment to another, one experience to another. And the moments blur or get lost entirely. I want to hold more moments, to remind myself how vital they are, to remember that this is the way I fill my full heart.