Savoring simple everyday pleasures
Life is in full swing here as we speed towards spring, and this week had been no exception with business, eventfulness and another 7 days flying by! The weather has been a complete mixed bag too- adding its own drama and uniqueness to the week, biblical rains and alfresco walm lunches, icy windy walks and pitch dark bush searches for lost children (Safely found eventually, thank goodness!)
The clear and resounding theme throughout all these varied events is community, spirit and belonging.
I'm feeling the renewed warm glow of a true sense of place and such gratitude that I am fortunate enough to live in a supportive, caring community. We are technically still part of a big sprawling city, but we are rural and on a peninsular of sorts surrounded by native bush, woodlands, and coastline.
I have come to realize that now, having lived in this immediate area for over 20 years (all be it in 3 homes over that time frame) that while I am so comforted and supported by our community, I am also very much a part of it too. I'm not an interloper or newby. We have been here for enough years to feel part of the fabric of that community, and a valuable cog in its diverse mix. Through my local job and having our own children grow up and attend kindergarten and school in the area, we have friends, neighbours, acquaintances and even just familiar faces passing regularly on walks, serving us our coffee, packing our grocery items, greeting us by name in the pharmacy, tooting and waving as they pass in their cars. My mother lives a little way away but we still are near enough to frequent the same shops, cafes and markets so she is by extension still in our area.
The events which unfolded this past week involving the young children from next door to us going missing in thick hazardous bush, in the dark and cold, for several hours - (and who were recovered perfectly unharmed just exhilarated by the adventure and a little muddy- unlike their poor parents who'd been frantic with worry!) demonstrated so completely and restored anew my gratitude, appreciation and my own place in this special community.
Regardless of the cold and dark, and with no thought to these children being mostly unfamiliar with the locals and the area having only moved here this year, these incredible, selfless people turned out of their houses on a dark damp night in the middle of winter to search gardens, paths and call out the names of the missing little ones. Police were here very promptly as was the helicopter with its infra red scanner looking for 3 little figures and their pup. My husband sprung into action and boots and head torches were donned and any agenda or commitment or engagements any of us had that evening were quickly put aside and the search was top priority. It was the net work of the locals which finally f9ound and identified them and safely returned them to their Mummy.
It could have been such a different outcome, and we shudder to think. Multiple calls and messages flooded in to help and also to check in if they'd been found and again the next day several locals approached me to enquire after the families wellbeing and hear the full story.
It takes a village is an old expression- so familiar we only use half of it these days- but BOY, does it!
So, while my "baby" is 18,000kms away, I feel enveloped in the friendship and security and support of this incredible community.
On that, I am going to finish my lemon water, and now the watery day light has broken through the pinkish wintry dawn, I plan to walk up to the village for coffee before tackling the household chores and preparing for another full week- possibly a little less eventful and dramatic than last, with a lovely sense of comfort and place in society. A true and peaceful contentment that my place is right here.
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