On my afternoon walk I stood on the bridge where I do push ups. After a few reps I stopped and I lingered, standing there far longer than usual – watching the water move, watching the fish, noticing patterns, noticing the light. I don’t stand still very long usually, I’m normally racing on to the next thing, but in this moment I had nothing in particular to do next, this was enough. I just hung there, body relaxed, mind noticing, heart feeling, ears listening, and I consciously acknowledged the loveliness of this moment.
And then…blah, ha ha, squeak, chitter chatter. A group of cyclists came onto the bridge and stopped. And talked. And laughed. Loudly. I turned, saw them, then turned back and did an internal eye roll. Huh, they were ruining my moment.
And then…one of them came over and asked me to take a photo of her and her friends, and the river. My river. I happily obliged, made sure the composition was right, did a countdown, snap. And one more for luck.
Then I dropped my phone on the bridge and they all gasped. It slid really fast towards the edge…the suspense…and then it just stopped. One of the guys said he would’ve dived into the river for me. Aww. I felt bad for the eye roll now!
Around the corner, as I set off walking again, I saw two guys taking a photo of a tree. I pondered. Then I too saw the ibis, three of them on one branch. Sweet. Threes always remind me of my two sisters and I, although not my favourite bird I thought they might be related and that we had something in common. The guys walked on and I jumped into position. Snap.
As I walked off, a different cyclist noticed what I had noticed, and he smiled gently at me, acknowledging the appreciation of the nice moment of the Ibis in the tree.
All of us in that ten minutes of shared experiences were strangers. We were strangers noticing the same things, helping each other out, spreading kindness, spreading life.
I felt lonely when I started my walk. On the bridge looking at the water I felt lonely. I was wishing that my kids weren’t scared of the river and would walk and talk, or scooter or cycle next to me. One day perhaps they will. And then in that moment everything changed. Today I realised that I was most certainly not alone.
We all saw.
Love Stripes and Trees xxx
Stripes & Trees 