The best moments in your life.

[HardDrive]

Ok, keep it clean. Perhaps you should describe the SECOND best moments in your life.

I'll start.

I hunt with my father in Northern Michigan, about 7 miles outside of a little town called Crystal Falls. We typically hunt together about half the time. We hunt hard. 8-10 hours, no matter how cold, and we stay until it is too dark to shoot.

You frequently see deer at dusk. They will come in to feed, and you strain to keep absolutely still, your scope up and on them as they emerge silently from the brush. Your heart is pounding in your chest and your hot breath hangs in vapor clouds in the sub freezing air. You move slowly, and try and control your breathing rate.

But the 15 minutes of intensity subside, and there are no horns out there, or perhaps its too dark to shoot, or the deer wind you. A loud snort from one, and they take off like rockets across the open space, 25 ft leaps that send them arcing over the brush. Dark.

100 yards across the frozen field, I hear the zipper of my fathers blind open. I can hear small sounds as he gathers his things, then crunches toward me. I too get out, zip the door of my blind, and walk toward him. we both gravitate toward the trail head. The first day of hunting, we might say in hushed but excited tones, "Did you see one!". But after 2 days, we are no longer excited city people acting like hunters. We are hunters. We get to the trail head and say nothing. I urinate, then we crunch along the dark trail, a now well overgrown logging road. To our right, dark rows of pines, planted decades ago, loom above us. We are not unhappy. We are not frustrated. We just are. We are simply there, our thoughts rising to nothing higher than having a cup of coffee.

[sammyg2]

Driving home after the first date with the girl I would eventually marry. I instantly knew that we were going to spend our lives together, it was just so clear and obvious. It couldn't have turned out any other way.

[Rick Lee]

I've had a few of these.

Seeing the Terra Cotta Army brought a tear to my eye.

Walking off the plane in Duesseldorf as a 16 yr. old exchange student....and then getting back on the plane home when it was all over.

Walking across the bridge from Frankfurt/Oder into Poland and hitchiking to Kiev from there.

Driving a buddy's Ferrari 512 BB.

Picking up my 993 after 6 mos. of waiting for body repairs from a track wreck.

Buying my first BMW bike and riding it 100 miles in freezing cold a week after getting my license.

Most recent stellar, lifelong memory was crossing the state line from VA into TN on my drive to AZ and then the state line from NM into AZ - a huge life change.

[Christien]

Awesome thread - so many, and adding to them every day!

There are the obvious, first date with the woman who would become my wife, birth of our daughter, driving home my 911 the day I bought it (great pic of me unlocking the door as we picked it up!).

A couple weeks ago I had my first ever ride in a Ferrari. But not just a nice country-road ride, this was a few hot laps of Mosport in a 360 Challenge factory racer! Rather than extreme excitement, I remember going up the back straight just appreciating what I was in the midst of, thinking wow, life truly is grand.

[deanp]

My Dad served in the USMC in Vietnam. He had never been to the Marine Corp War Memorial or the Vietnam Memorial, so last fall for his 60th birthday we took a road trip to the newly opened Marine Corp museum and then the Marine Corp War Memorial and Vietnam Memorial.

There wasn't much talk about current goings on - it was the first time we talked about when he enlisted, what his time in Vietnam was like and other things I never knew - like how my Great-Grandfather's Oldsmobile dealership was ruined by an ambulance chaser attorney way back in the early '60's.

We've always been close, and we've done a lot of other things together, but that weekend, packed with a range of emotions, was one that will provide great memories for a long, long time.

[Red Baron]

The birth of my two girls.

And when I'm on the track running 130+

[pwd72s]

Life generally sucks...no "best moments" that I can post. After all, you said to keep it clean...

[Palum6o]

In the car category, I was 12 (1985) when my Dad took me along with him to test drive a Ferrari 308 QV.

[dipso]

19 years old, model girlfriend, white thigh highs, parents not home, uuummmmm

[rusnak]

There have been a few for me....which is why I love this country and always had an American flag somewhere on my car.

[Hard-Deck]

Meeting my wife of 21 years, getting that first kiss.
Being home to see both of my kids born and helping with it.
Landing on an aircraft carrier for the first time.
Leading SPECOPS troops into IZ in 2003, then bringing them all back home.
Sailing the first time.
Helping my mom or dad always
Working on cars with my son
Holding my daughter's hand
Every day when I wake up

[the]

17 years old, girlfriend who was voted "Most Attractive" in high school . . . any time parents weren't home. Damn, I'll never, ever forget those days, there's nothing like it. (Those who are anti-premarital sex are really missing out on some of life's greatest experiences, IMO. Yeah, there are risks, but most of life's best things involve risk).

That was a quarter decade or so.

Fast forward to today, great moments being out on a world class golf course with my 9 year old son, sunset, on the 18th hole, after having a great afternoon playing, talking, and seeing $10K+ in golf lessons for him pay off in his very pretty, confident swing and lots of pars. Very special to me.

[Rick Lee]

A few more cool moments.



Just got my first car.


Here's the day I got my car back after 6 mos. of painful waiting and endless promises.

[Rick Lee]

First engine drop is always special.

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by the

(Those who are anti-premarital sex are really missing out on some of life's greatest experiences, IMO. Yeah, there are risks, but most of life's best things involve risk).

+1000

When I was at Michigan State, I dated a Croatian girl that was about 9.5 on the Richter scale. I love the expression on my fathers friends faces when she would show up in a bikini top. LOL. They almost died.

She could go.

[Rick Lee]

My hottest ever GF was one of those memorable nights the first time I sealed the deal. There we were, making out in my 993, me hoping for the invite upstairs, you know, so she could play her violin for me. No dice. I knew my patience would pay off, so I went home. Halfway home my cell phone rang and it was her. In her adorable broken English, she said, "I change my mind. You come back and be with me." I did the Dukes of Hazzard U-turn and headed back to her place. When I knocked on the door, she was in her pj's, with a toothbrush and just handed me a parking permit to put on my dashboard. Oh, that was nice.

[Noah930]

One from recent memory: few weeks ago, woke up to my 3 yr-old son, laying in bed next to me with his face about 4 inches away, singing Happy Birthday to me.

[Oh Haha]

The last time I told my Dad "I love you". He passed away a few days later with us by his side.

Sad, I know but it is memorable. I have no regrets.

When my son was born and realizing that I am a Daddy.

When my daughter was born and realizing that I will be her hero for a long time.

The second date with my wife and , like others, knowing that I would marry her.


Every day that my kids grow and learn something new. There is nothing more special to me than getting home after a long day to my family, the kids stop what they are doing and run to me. Sweet.

Oh, and every time I get the chance to drive my 911. Others will never get to own such an iconic car.

[johndglynn]

Getting off the bus from Ireland in London one freezing February morning, with my life in a suitcase, £60 in my pocket, and wondering whether I was gonna be able to make a living.

Oh, and the Chinese girl in the back of the camper at the end of that Heathrow runway

[johndglynn]

Originally Posted by Noah930

One from recent memory: few weeks ago, woke up to my 3 yr-old son, laying in bed next to me with his face about 4 inches away, singing Happy Birthday to me.

Reading you loud and clear there buddy