Bridget McNulty

The simple things in life.

// April 5th, 2010 // Inspiration, Life (and the living of it), Love

I haven’t been talking much about our incredible six months of travelling, not because I don’t want to share stories about it, but because it actually feels like a long time ago… And then every so often I’ll remember something and think, “No way! That was only 3 months ago.” Or less – we’ve only been home for 6 weeks. I suppose it’s the kind of thing where stories will leak out of me slowly.

There is one moment I distinctly remember, though:
We were on top of this mountains in Java, Indonesia, staying at a charming little place where the whole village focuses on a 3am wake-up call to jeep up to this lookout point and watch the sun rise over the Gunung Bromo volcano. Incredible stuff. Once the sun is up, you walk across the field of ash surrounding the volcano, and up to the rim, where you can look into its sulfurous heart. It was a completely extraordinary morning.

But I remember that afternoon, sitting in the garden of this hotel in Java, listening to the village going about its business, breathing in the crisp air scented with woodsmoke, and thinking, “There is just as much beauty in the simple things in life.” We were nearing the end of our fourth month of travelling, and I had an acute sense of how wonderful it would be to drink a cup of tea (a real cup of tea!) slowly on the verandah of my own home. To prepare a really delicious meal for the two of us to eat. To spend time with my family. To watch my niece playing. To talk about everything and nothing to my mom on the phone without having to worry about the cost of the call.

And now that we are home, I’m happy to say that I still think these are wonderful things.
We just had a four day weekend, and I spent it eating with family and friends. Pretty much the whole weekend. Just eating. On Friday we had my man’s parents and grandpa over for tea and cake; Saturday we went for a beach picnic with friends in the morning, and a braai with other friends in the afternoon; Sunday we had a long, lazy lunch with my brothers and their lovely ladies; and today we went to the incredible Strandloper seafood restaurant with my brothers and a whole heap of friends (seven courses of seafood dished up on the beach… Wow.)

I suppose it’s also a novelty because I now have two brothers living in Cape Town (how lovely!) so I’m able to spend real family time without having to fly home to Durban (although I’ll still want to do that to see my other brother and my parents). Maybe it’s just the glow of having returned home so recently. But I think it’s as simple as this:

Life offers us a bouquet of moments that we can either appreciate or let slip through our fingers. They don’t last – most bouquets don’t – but if we can taste them fully as they are happening, I think that’s as whole and rich and wonderful a life as we can hope for.

What do you think?

Photo: Praziquantel