A wedding

I am back in South Africa to attend the wedding of two of my friends. It was a wonderful day spending time with a small group of people who know each other well, and for me it felt like being a part of a concluding scene to a movie about our lives of the past few years.

About 6 years ago I came to be part of this group, which was a unique experience of camaraderie and care that I hadn’t previously experienced in my life. Then, more recently, I’ve lived away from them, and so became something of an observer.  Inevitably, the passage of time saw the ending of relationships, friendship turn to friction and return to friendship, and the start of new relationships. I was saddened by the pain I saw some of my friends go through, despite knowing that pain and joy are of the same coin and that many dreams are never realised but occasionally do come true and bring with them life purpose and richness.

Last night I felt like the world had straightened out again. We were all laughing and dancing together, lives made sense (at least to my mind). There seemed to me to be contentment, acceptance and happiness. It was a very good moment. And I guess thinking about it now, it was both a concluding scene of one movie and the opening scene of another.

 

Time now to move onto Rocklands to hang out with a friend, climb until my fingers bleed and get back some of the centredness that work has drawn from me this year.