What gives you goosebumps?

I get goosebumps all the time. Nights in the Bay Area are chilly all year round, and the medication I take tends to slow down my metabolism (okay, I'm also too lazy to throw on a sweater and socks). But the best (and sometimes, the worst) goosebumps are the ones that have nothing whatsoever to do with the temperature. Here are ten of my most memorable goosebump-inducing moments:


1) Receiving my first real kiss from my first boyfriend;

2) Seeing beams of light streaming through the stained glass windows into St. Peter's Cathedral in the Vatican;

3) Seeing the peaks and falls from Yosemite Valley for the very first time;

4) Hearing the Flower Duet from Lakme for the very first time (I will always love my husband for playing it to me);

5) Seeing the view from my husband's (then boyfriend's) bedroom for the first time and knowing without a doubt that I wanted to wake up one day staring at that view;

6) Hearing my husband (then boyfriend) tell me he loved me for the very first time;

7) Seeing image after image of courage, sacrifice and loss during the months following the Twin Towers Collapse on 9/11;

8) Feeling my newly-born daughter being laid down on my chest;

9) Hearing a door slam, seeing my two-year-old son's finger trapped in a door, and upon extricating it, seeing his poor little pinkie squashed as FLAAAT as a pancake (it was broken, of course).

10) Hearing my son run into our bedroom at six in the morning, feeling him snuggle up to Alfie and me, and smelling his sweet baby scent as he falls asleep between us.

What gives you goosebumps? Find out what others say here.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my I got goosebumps and chills reading about your son's broken finger.
We used to love cuddling up with our daughter in between us.
Thanks for visiting my SPH,
Frances
PS Hopefully I'll have an entry for Sunday Scribblings up on Sunday LOL

tricia stirling said...

i can relate to many of these. especially the feeling of your newly born daughter being placed on your chest. there is nothing like that in the world, is there? great list : )

Rob Kistner said...

These are excellent examples of goose-bump makers from real life situations -- some good, some bad.

Paul said...

Some lovely memories for you.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful list of goosebumps. A true delight to read, except for the broken finger one. *wince*

Anonymous said...

Ooh, that is a great list! I'm off to think of mine! :)

deedee said...

You have a great list of goosebumps :)

Kamsin said...

Great list! I squirmed reading about your son's finger! To live a life full of such great moments must truly be a blessing!

raymond pert said...

Here's one of my favorite poems. It tells about a young boy, Fergus, who always comes traipsing into his parents' bed after he's heard the sounds of their lovemaking. I love how the son returns to the ground of his making. I think of Fergus as being like a salmon who must return to the spot where he was conceived. I hope you enjoy the poem and that it relates in some way to your son running into your bedroom and jumping in your bed to be with you and your husband.


After Making Love We Hear Footsteps

For I can snore like a bullhorn
or play loud music
or sit up talking with any reasonably sober Irishman
and Fergus will only sink deeper
into his dreamless sleep, which goes by all in one flash,
but let there be that heavy breathing
or a stifled come-cry anywhere in the house
and he will wrench himself awake
and make for it on the run - as now, we lie together,
after making love, quiet, touching along the length of our bodies,
familiar touch of the long-married,
and he appears - in his baseball pajamas, it happens,
the neck opening so small
he has to screw them on, which one day may make him wonder
about the mental capacity of baseball players -
and flops down between us and hugs us and snuggles himself to sleep,
his face gleaming with satisfaction at being this very child.

In the half darkness we look at each other
and smile
and touch arms across his little, startling muscled body -
this one whom habit of memory propels to the ground of his making,
sleeper only the mortal sounds can sing awake,
this blessing love gives again into our arms.

Galway Kinnell

Liza on Maui said...

Excellent post on Goosebumps. This is what I wanted to do initially but couldn't get it all together. Your list is wonderful. It gave me goosebumps reading it :)

Gill said...

Loved your list of goosebump-inducing moments.

Tammy Brierly said...

What a great list! You have so much to be thankful for. :)

raymond pert said...

In reply to your appreciation of the poem I posted, I can't tell you how much it means to me that you enjoyed it. It's such a touching and, I think, profound poem about a family and about a young child's deep sense of where he came from and his desire to be back there.

Cherie said...

A gorgeous list - Thank You!

Regina said...

Oh, how sweet... It's wonderful to hear when NICE things can give people goosebumps!

Anonymous said...

That was an awesome list. It made me think.

Raymond's comment post is good too. I enjoyed reading tha poem.