Sharing this story because my gran would have loved it, and she would have done it too. I found out she had passed just after doing an interview about bodies. And Id shared during the interview a prayer for my grandmothers body, for all the incredible things it had done in its 97 years as her vessel. I had tears in my eyes thinking of the huge journey her body had been on - from conception, to birth, to growing up, to birthing children, to growing older, to finally dying. All the things it had helped her to do - garden and cook and love and read and tend to others. My dad called moments after Id shared the prayer. We wept on the phone together, and I walked around our acreage for a while, Ostara trailing behind me. Three kookaburras were flying quite close around us, catching worms and sitting, staring at us in that funny, brazen way they do. Kookaburras - they remind me of my gran. Always ready for a laugh. Not a bird you can easily ignore. Me and Chris talked about our favourite moments with Gran, and the Great Heavenly Homecoming Party she was having with all her beloveds on the other side. And we decided to go get some chai and breakfast to celebrate her. As we drove into the village, we saw a peculiar sight - a combi van was pulled up in the middle of the road, doors open, with girls throwing food out of the car as quickly as they could. When I say in the middle of the road - I mean in the MIDDLE of the road. Buses and cars were all slowly trying to manoeuvre around them. Now, we live in a tropical tourist village. A tourist village doesnt quite describe it though. We live in a rainforest where a great many people from all over the world come each day to marvel at. People who are often overwhelmed, lost or in need of some help to get through their day. Its our part time hobby - helping hapless adventurers. We had a sense we had some new friends to help that day. We circled the block looking for a park and couldnt find one. We drove back around, parked in the bus park, and I jumped out to ask if we could help. It was four French girls. And they had a discovered a large spider in their car as they were driving. And theyd screeched the brakes on, and immediately jumped out. The usual large spiders we get here in Australia which is nothing much for us to squeam out, but can bring the Colossal Freakout on for anyone else. I gently mentioned they might like to drive their car to the side of the road so we could go through the car carefully together. Please... please... you can drive for us? We cannot go back in the car? She waves the keys at me. I grin and laugh. Sure. So I perform the worst driving in all of history with my 510 lankiness crammed into the driving space made for a 54 fairy. Bring it to a screeching halt at an odd angle in a bus zone, nearly putting myself through the windscreen, laughing hysterically as I do so. Chris waves me back to the car. The natives (aka my girls) are getting restless. We tag team. He jumps out of the car looking for the spider, and I get the girls out of the car. Ostara gets her My Little Pony backpack on. Shes ready to go. Awww Mum! Lets go! Lets go find our little fwend the spider and help him go home to all his spider fwends! Chris locates the spider. (I should mention privately he was dressed in a black t-shirt that hugs his chest really nicely, and I was perving on him. But I wont say that publicly. Let it be our little secret, k?) He flicks the spider out of the girls combi. They are right - it is a big spider. It scuttles across the road like a crab and disappears into a park. The girls squee happily, thank us profusely, we all laugh hysterically and pile back into our cars as buses begin to pull in impatiently. All in a days adventures in the rainforest. It was damn good fun. Whenever you open yourself up to making friends out of strangers, it always is. Love, The Helping The Hapless Happily Service.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 17:15:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015