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Married to Nick for 13 years, with 2 children; Sabrina - 12 and Dominic - 11. I am a girlfriend through and through in that I love girly things and anything that celebrates the essence of being a woman. I love vintage, shabby chic, the country and try my best to do my bit for the environment. SO yes...we have 3 bins in our house and try our best to recycle! I believe that with everything in life, the closer we stick to nature, the better off we'll be. I would love to have a balance in life, but have learnt that balance is not always possible, so strive for significance instead, in the hopes that that will be just as meaningful, and the rest will hopefully follow.

Monday, December 8, 2008

The mysterious BIGGER picture...

I have never really taken the time to ask my mother about whether or not she actually encouraged my independence/determination as a child, or if it was genetic and there to start with. But judging from her own sense of independance, which leads me to believe that she resides HAPPILY on her own planet most of the time, I suspect it may have been a bit of both that presented in me that DIY, “you can make it happen” attitude from very early days….. .

Most days I feel blessed to be this way, and then there are days, and times, and discussions with people closest to me, that make me realize, that like any characteristic we have in life, there is always a flip side….just like the flip side of creativity can often be depression (fact)….. . I CAN however say this, that most of the best decisions of my life, were made thanks to my ability to function independently, and my determination, when it came to things that really mattered to me.

At the beginning of 2008, after much soul searching, I really strongly believed that in the best interest of our family, we needed to consider moving to the Midlands. I am blessed to have a job that allows me to work from just about anywhere, the children would be able to attend a school that for Nick and I, encompassed everything we could wish our children to be exposed to in the form of Education and life, and Nick would be able to hopefully slow down before keeling over from a stress induced heart attack!! Naturally my DH was surprised by my suggestion, but we both agreed that life is to be lived, and as I’ve said before, you can be so busy living it, that before you know it, it’s passed you by.... We’ve always LOVED the Midlands and found so much peace there, and over the 9 years of frequenting it regularly, have made some connections there too. So we agreed that this move would be us living our dream, or one step closer to it anyway, and that if we were going to live in South Africa, then we were going to take full advantage of all the wonderful things it has to offer, and live our best life.

Whilst I was determined to do whatever possible to take our lives successfully into that direction, and make this life changing experience a reality, my intuition kept saying that for once in my life, I needed to allow this journey to be guided for the most part, by the course of events, and God or the Universe (we pretty much have all our bases covered in our family – LOL!!) instead of manipulating the course of justice and forcing things into place, which can very often, when I'm passionate enough about something, be my usual modus operandi (possibly one of the downsides to that independent/determined streak) – heck I’m all for making the mountain come to Mohammed if all else fails – LOL!!

There were times when my very patient DH would have to remind me that all good things come to those who wait….as we drove past those lush green pastures we both love so much, dotted with black and white cows…sigh..... . He once nudged me and said “Babe, we’re home”, as we drove along a dusty, country road, and we both looked at each other and smiled, sensing it was right. The hardest part was making the decision to give up our home, that we love so much, which is such a spiritual sanctuary for me in particular, as we have found so much bliss and happiness here. That said, we went through all the motions of putting everything in place to make this move happen, until everything rested on the sale of our house, at which point we both conferred that "what will be, will be". We had put it all out there, done our bit, and the rest was up to ..well (not us!!)… As I sit her today reflecting back on this past year, and share some pearls of wisdom with a friend, we both wonder if it wasn’t for the best, that our home is still safely with us…..

So my thoughts for today are this: In life, you just never know what sits in wait around the corner….you may think you do, and then BAM, something hits you out of the blue, and it reminds you that there is something so much bigger than us out there, influencing your bigger picture. And every road you take, may lead to a number of places actually, depending on how you approach the journey, which can often define whether or not the destination is in one’s best interest or not. I have always been a firm believer that to a large extent we create our own destiny, and make our own luck, so leaving our dream in the hands of God and fate/Universe was a huge leap of faith for me, but I have once again been reminded that you need to do whatever you can, and then there's a point when you need to sit back and wait for the situation to reveal itself or play itself out. And there are times like now, that I feel life has presented me with options and results I myself would not have imagined possible…so I guess it is true, life isn’t always about GETTING, sometimes it is about LETTING…and I think it is also true that very often, not getting what you want can be a blessing, or maybe there's an even bigger picture still waiting to be revealed……
The photo above is one of my latest finds... olde worlde, quaint knitted "CHRISTMAS PUDDING" tea cosy's...all in the spirit of Christmas!

4 comments:

  1. I am so in love with that tea cosy..... I hope that is MINE...... and we have had this discussion on SKYPE and I am so pleased you have LET instead of GET this year....

    Love R

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  2. No Rhonda, it is MINE!!!! and I LOVE it....what a wonderful post B, you are so right sometimes if it is meant to happen the pieces will just fall into place and if it isn't it just won't happen no matter how you try to force it....I truly believe that your destiny is in your hands, but sometimes you just have to go with the flow and it will take you in the right direction.

    love always xxx

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  3. Oh man, what a cute tea cosy - makes me rather hungry for pudding!!

    You are so right in what you say. I ave a saying from Leo Buscalia that if the mind can conceive, the body can achieve and I think that is quite true. I also believe that our life has been mapped out for each and every one of us and what will be will be.

    Glad you are happy in your "country" home.

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  4. you are all welcome for tea at mine anytime seeing as I HAVE THE MOST COVETED OVER TEA COSY - oh Bee i afore it thanks so so so so so so much

    with regards to your house and moving or not and when etc etc - it is all in GODS timing my friend - and that is one system we wont ever work out i dont think - He knows -so for now sit backa nd enjoy the time you have left in your home - for you never know when it will all end and you will be looking back on it from another place -midlands ....england wherever - ok so i just threw that in for colour !!!!!!! missing you lots

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