Peace

After a very long and hard term, the holidays finally hit, and I got the chance to spend the weekend in Imar's home town...Betty's Bay. What a privilege I have to be able to go to such a beautiful place. Anyway, the purpose of this post is to share with you, the little adventure that Imar, Mulder and I experienced.

We woke up on Saturday morning, nice and late to lovely, calm and peaceful weather. Once we were dressed, we had a lovely Krige breakfast, which consisted of egg, bacon, tomato and toast. Yum, my mouth is watering at the thought. In an attempt to have Mulder feel loved and appreciated, as well as grab some sun while we could, Imar and I decided to go for a walk on the beach. It was so lovely. Mulder was ecstatic!

We finally got him on the leash and gave Sandokan (Nadia's cat) a chance to breath at the sight of Mulder walking off into the distance. As we walked our usual route, my skin somehow rejoiced at the feeling of the sun on it, it was as if the suns weak beams saw it as a priority to touch my skin. Along the path, I think Mulder subtly was trying to play a game with me. Every time I was walking on Imar's side, he would come and walk in front of me, making me have to back off and move to the other side. Every now and again, he would run up to me, and do the same thing. Imar and I, hands linked, were talking so much that we even walked straight past the path to the beach.

Once we were on the path, the beach, for me, looked so different from other times, as the dunes were not as high as they used to be, making it MUCH easier to climb without dying of exhaustion. Once we were onto the beach...I cannot begin to tell you the sensation that arose from having sand between my toes again. It's amazing how much your body suffers when it is constantly clothed and closed up.

We walked for a far way, not that I even noticed it, with Mulder pacing behind us as he dug in our steps every time, and occasionally nipped at my heal or ran at me to kick sand in the air. He was our main entertainment. We found so many interesting objects on the beach. There were so many beautiful colourful shells, as well as a pair of rusted, still usable, scissors and a hook and sinker (stinker as Imar called it.) How fun it was to find these hidden treasures.

We finally reached Dawids Kraal (Hope that is the correct spelling) and oh what a pretty scene. The sun was starting to come out a little stronger now, and the river was glistening. It wasn't as strong as we thought it would be, but it was perfect. I sat down on a rock on the side of the river, with the river water running past me on all sides. Perched perfectly on my little rock, I stuck my toes into the river water and breathed in the fresh ocean smell. As I sat there and soaked in the scene, Imar wondered up the stream, behind the bushes, looking at the beautiful scenery of where the mountain and the river met.

He never asked me to come up with him, I think he saw I was absolutely mesmerised and at peace where I was, or maybe both of us were taking in the beauty in our own way. Behind me sat a very tired, and thirsty Mulder, watching me. I suspect Imar and Mulder had an unspoken agreement that meant that when Imar wasn't around, Mulder was too protect. He was so tired, and I think he welcomed the idea of resting and eyeing out the sea gulls.

Imar eventually joined me, and managed to identify the rock David would have used to hit Goliath, he was so proud of this little round rock that he placed it on top of the little "hidden treasures" pile. Once we thought Mulder had rested enough we reluctantly started our journey back home. Even though Mulder seemed so tired, and lagged behind a bit, that never stopped him from chasing the sea gulls and being petted by an eager dog owner, who suddenly caused him to look 10 feet taller. Oh how compliments can revive a soul. :) He was so cute.

When we arrived back home, I felt refreshed and alive once again. The once stressed, panicked, aged Tamara was now living again. Happy. All of this thanks to the cool sea breeze, and the feeling of the river water on my toes. What nature can do for a person is amazing. I never want to be separated from it.

We never brought the camera with, and Imar decided to part with his iphone for the little walk, so we only have the picture perfect moments in our head, the hook and s(t)inker and the scissors. Somewhere along the line we lost David's rock.

What a beautiful precious day. That spot will forever be a special place for me. Even though I wrote about it briefly, I still cannot really explain why.