It's my birthday. Sian and Ellie are up before me, preparing a lovely breakfast and picking flowers from the garden. They are both very sweet and have made their own cards and some of their own presents. In the afternoon, we have a lovely tea set out on the veranda. John has made an orange and poppy seed cake (served with cream) and there is tea in tea cups and flowers in a vase.
Finally, my dream has come true and John has bought me a rain gauge. I am now a true Bulawayo girl. Sian bought me a 'vintage' Kango kettle, like the ones that are always used in series such as Call the Midwife. from Ellie, I got a lovely pot plant that has the most beautiful purple flowers.
Birthdays are in many ways, a time of reckoning - seeing how far you have come and taking note of where you are going. I'd say that this year has been different in many ways. It has been quite a trial and a challenge, but in terms of my own personal growth, I feel a great change. Since my mum died, I have felt myself to be on a journey of sorts. I suppose death always makes us stop and look at our lives. I have found myself looking back at the past, asking questioning and also tying up ends.
I think doing yoga and meditation has helped incredibly. The most important lesson I think I have learnt is PAUSE. This works in a couple of ways. One is: don't retaliate, don't reply, don't say anything until you have paused. The other is to pause in life: take a day off, spend an hour lying in the garden, doing nothing, read a book for the sake of reading, go for a walk for no other reason than to just get out.
Now, there is a lot to look forward to: life is beginning again, things are opening up; hopefully, the coronavirus is on its way out. All Come to Dust should be published soon and, although there is work to be done on it still, The Dying of the Light is finished. There is a lot to be grateful for and look forward to.
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