Of family, friends, joy and pleasure…

Here ends a three week visit from Mama and Papa Femme.

From the moment they kissed my face and hugged me hard at Heathrow one year ago, sending me away from my homeland with selfless wishes for my happiness; I kept the Part Of Me That Longs For My Parents [to hold my hand through life], numb. I anaesthetised it so that it didn’t hurt to be away from them. Sometimes it would awaken via a long distance phone call or a broadcaster unwittingly playing an emotive song on the radio, but I soon quelled it with thoughts of the beautiful life Himself and I have created here in Australia and dreams of Mama Femme and Papa Femme’s first visit to see it all.

Then they were here. In the flesh. They didn’t seem a minute older than the day we left them. They were familiar and comforting, yet exciting and new all at the same time.

I listened to my Dad’s stories, some of which I have heard a hundred times and we laughed until we both had tears streaming down our faces. I succumbed instantly to my Mum’s way of cleaning up after every activity rather than “leaving it til later” as is my wont. I watched her cook and simultaneously entertain our guests and make everyone welcome, as is her natural talent.

We argued over who should pay for dinner; we swam in the pool; we breakfasted on the beach; we chilled and read books in amiable silence; we talked all through and over the top of my favourite television programmes; we school run’d together; we road trip’d together; we marvelled at the “Australianness” of our surroundings and the incidental Britishness of ourselves and I felt whole.

The blessings which we bestow on ourselves are those which we often taken for granted; almost as though because we have chosen them ourselves, we do not deserve them in their fullness. I chose this land as my home, but I leave behind a family whom I love.

The path which we choose for ourselves is a road less travelled, filled with uncertainty and often with comprimise; but the wholeness achieved in three short weeks in which time I have felt that I “have it all” both emboldened me in my future choices and made even more firm my relationship with those whom I have physically left behind. Friendships that I have formed since my life in Australia began are exquisite to me, so incredibly precious that I am thankful for them everyday. I look at the world afresh, with renewed optimism and a feeling that “I can have all of this, and them (my parents) too”. Nothing has been lost.

So it was a great trip. A wonderful experience through which I no longer have to feel numb, rather blessed.

To my wonderful parents: We are apart but not lost to each other. See you soon.

~ by Femme on November 28, 2007.