Our World Expands Through Different Conversations...
As we drove past the port, Anadi leapt out at the traffic lights at Sette Vente where he was heading for breakfast, leaving Pru and I to go to the airport together and have a last 'future planning session' over fresh orange juice, before she disappeared through the departure gates....
As we drove along the coast, she pointed across the sea... Pantokrator was standing tall, it's peak above all the other peaks... Once on the plane, she texted me, 'just about to take off, last look at Pantokrator...'
Our energy is still at the top of the mountain... all of our energies wherever we go remain, the imprints of what we brought to the experiences as we journey through life, so it is worth exploring how light our tread is, how bright how energising our offering... What are we leaving behind as we travel and what we are gaining...?
This quote by Miriam Beard seems to resonate with the experience Pru and I had, in travelling to mount Pantokrator last Sunday... it's importance emphasised by her having a a last look it as she got ready to fly to the next phase in her life....
“Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of the sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”
Pru and I waved and waved until she disappeared from sight, and then I drove back through Corfu town, which felt like home (for now) to meet Anadi in Sette Vente for breakfast... We thought of Pru winging her way back to Lewes, a town I know so well, and meeting up with her mum, my friend Ange, for a walk on the downs which now only exist for me in my imagination...
Our lives are enriched by all the different conversations we can have, in each conversation our own world can expand or shrink depending on our ability to listen, to stretch and to cross into the world of the other person....
I have lived in Sussex, and so when Pru talks of her experiences and her home, I have a vivid picture, drawn a lot from my own experiences ... But when she talks of ski ing then my own world expands by listening to her incredible stories, when she talks of the boots tight on her feet, giving her pain early season, I am there with her. When she talks about the virgin snow of the first run, I am imagining it in her shoes/ or skis, not my own as I do not like snow and I do not like the cold and I don't like going downhill fast! But through my conversations with Pru, I enter a new world of speed and focus and courage that is of a different colour to my own...
So often our prejudices or our 'stuff', stop us experiencing more, and travelling more than we do with our own body... As Anna Quindlen says...
“The life you have led doesn’t need to be the only life you have.”
Conversation, and sharing with each other, gives us the opportunity to have many lives...!
Later...
I have just returned from my second run of the day... Anadi and I ran into the sparkling new day together early this morning; and now I have just run six miles back and forth along Ipsos sea front...
The boys were circling on their bikes, but I was without beautiful Pru and they meandered off....
I 'stretched out', running fast for a few minutes, one way along the front, and jogged back the other way... I felt fit and fast, and once again noticed the effects of the 'high humidity' lifted from my being...
As I ran home 'dog' from the petrol station joined me... I have been working all afternoon on the terrace and 'dog' from 'who knows where', sat all the time at my feet!
'Dog' from petrol station followed me up the road, meandering about and weaving in and out of the cars... I have become so blasé about being followed by my 'dog' in different countries now, that as I ran up the road, I wondered if the car with two British looking people in it were going to ask me the way, because they slowed right down...
And then I noticed they were looking at me, and looking at (my!) 'dog' which didn't look safe on the road by any means...
However, I have learnt that the dogs in foreign climates have a car savvy ness all of their own, and now run along and relax with my various companions that join me on the road...!