I was just upstairs in our bedroom, putting away washing (this isn’t the point of this story!). I closed the doors and looked up as I heard an aeroplane flying overhead. We’re on the Lanseria flight path to Cape Town so this wasn’t unusual until it all stopped.
In March last year, for South Africans anyhow, it all came to a grinding halt, as we hit hard lockdown. We live in a very quiet place at the best of times and for a period of time, I relished in the quiet of the roads and the skies and of life slowing down. But the quiet, whilst appreciated briefly, meant we couldn’t get to the people we loved and the echoing silence set in.
My love came home today after attending the funeral of her Great Uncle – also a victim of Covid despite his honourable and long life – no one is spared, of this life. She said how hard these last 18 months had been and I thought, but isn’t life hard in general, which it is.
This post isn’t about the hardship it’s about love. Today she sat around listening to people speak of her Great Uncle and Aunt – what a team they’d been and how people had looked up to them. She heard stories of what they’d done in their community and for their extended family and she sat with her Great Aunt who is now, finally, all alone. She mused on, my love that is, that whilst her Great Aunt is without her life partner she isn’t alone because of the community she lives in, and the support she, and he, created for themselves, is still right there.
And that’s it. If we’re all alone, we’re all alone in that together too (that’s a movie line, not mine!) but we’re better for the people we choose to surround ourselves with. I sat and digested her wise words, my loves that is, and took stock – again of what I’ve chosen to surround myself with. Love and light and happiness and gratitude and love, so much love.
So if anyone feels alone or lonely, I’m here, we’re here, and there is much love to go around. We can do hard things, I love you.