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If you don’t remember.... it’s like it never was!
We live in the country about ten minutes from a small developing town.... well, when we arrived 15 months ago, it was a ‘small’ town, and now development has taken over.
We can travel to town either by the ‘back road’ which eventually meets up with “Old Main Road” which twists and turns along the Valley of the 1000 hills and runs into Hillcrest... where we work and our children go to school... or we can go on the N3 and then the N13 which is obviously much quicker, if not as picturesque.
On the way to town the other day while musing about this and that, a splash of bright orange, sort of a very ripe peach colour.... just not the colour of an orange... caught my eye, and there right on the side of the highway were dozens and dozens of lily type flowers in bloom.... it was such an unusual colour it simply took my breath away...
The next day, the same spot of bright colour caught my attention..... and the next, and the next, each day taking me by surprise..... maybe because you have to drive so fast along the highway, you can’t really slow down to take a good look at the flowers (not that my husband ever would slow down on the highway, anyway ;o).
If I have discovered anything about KwaZulu Natal in the 15 months since we moved here, it’s that Nature is abundant in her splendour.... and life is prolific.... it grows, even in Autumn!
And although my husband and each of our three children have caught sight of the duiker that supposedly live at the ‘bottom’ of our garden, I had yet to see even one.... and I began to muse that maybe they were mythical creatures like unicorns or gargoyles that my husband and children had made up to entertain me (yes, they do that *Smile)..... then it happened, late one night on the way home... the headlights of our car caught an orange glow and my husband stopped on the dirt road... whispering quietly, ‘Look Mands!’
There they were, two orangie brown duiker.... what looked like a mother and fawn, silently staring at us through the glow of our now dimmed headlights..... and I stared back transfixed by their reverent, almost solemn stance under the trees beside our long drive up the side of a hill.
I was so transfixed by their beauty I was speechless.... at first, anyway... then excitement took hold and I loudly whispered.... I see them... to which they seemed to respond with a nod and then they ambled up the embankment and were swallowed by the dense bush.
It was a humbling experience to realise that less than 100 metres below my front door in a level area on the side of the hill where we live.... where a load of large tree cuttings has been left to return to the Earth.... these beautiful, creatures have taken up residence.... and it is a rare privilege to see them late at night or early in the morning....
And it was very early one morning when the sun was just glimpsing over the horizon.... burnishing the clouds as streaks of orange across the dark night sky.... then slowly lightening in colour through mauves and pinks, when my daughter let out a squeal of delight and called us to come and look at what she had found.... a small moth about the size of a R1 coin, sunning itself on the wall..... in the brightest orange colour I have ever seen with lines of patterned grey.... it was exquisite, I wish I could describe it in words.... or been able to take a photo... or if I was an artist draw or paint it so I could show it to everyone..... all I can do is capture and treasure it in my memory!
Then I forgot..... I forgot about the orangie, peachy coloured flowers by the side of the highway that brought me such pleasure each morning as we had passed them by.... I didn’t remember the duiker and her fawn who captured my attention and held me transfixed, late one night as I travelled home with my family... and the memory my daughter and I shared, a treasured moment we had watched a bright orange and grey moth, enjoying the sunrise as we were watching the dawn..... were each lost in a week of hectic routine and scramble to get work and chores done!
This morning, ten days later.... while I am taking a day at home, just for myself... these three memories and all that I experienced in those moments of joy.... came flooding back, and with astonishment I wondered how I could have forgotten even for a moment, never mind ten days?
I realised that if I don’t remember something.... it’s like it never was!
If I forget a shared moment with my daughter, or seeing the duiker with my family in the car, it’s simply like it never happened... and that would be tragic. So for the first time in months I sat down and wrote, something I haven’t done for a while..... and it was like reliving each special moment again.... *Grin*
I also know, that each time I read this.... (even if I do forget, over and over again ;o) ....I will always remember the joy in each of those moments, and these times I shared with my family, simply because I have now written it down.... and that’s the most important treasures we can keep.... remembering the special moments we share!
-- Mands
12th May 2008
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