'Found My Family In A Book...'
Today we drove to Perama, and as we approached the area, we recognized the road… ‘We’ve been here before I think’ Anadi said…
It turned out to be the very same one that we drove down last September, to take part in the Issos sandy beach race.
Every step of that race was on sand…!
Along sandy tracks, up sand dunes, down the other side and then finishing along the wet sand at the shoreline…
We had driven the length of the island to get there... It was a spectacular route, through beautiful villages and small towns... The sea was always sparkling to our left, bright flowers wound their way around wooden posts, and up the sides of white and pink houses; the journey itself had been a joy, an adventure to a new land…
And the road to Perama brought us back here once again…
We were making our way to spend the afternoon with Anastasia, who I met on the running path to Pantokrator in September... We then reconnected two weeks ago on the trails of Kassios Dias. She had invited us to take coffee with her and her husband Thomas, to sit together, to enjoy the view…
We arrived at their home, situated high up above the road, directly across from the beach below… Anastasia was born in Corfu, and having spent ten years working in Athens was drawn back to nature again… She met Thomas here who was born in Montenegro, and has spent his life running in the mountains and swimming in the sea, fishing and living off the land, even catching octopus with his bare hands…
They both swim in the sea all year round!
Thomas was allocated to make us coffee… Anastasia said that he is the best coffee maker… We drank delicious ‘medium sweet’ Greek coffee looking at the view and sharing our ideas about life, and about the freedom of running in the mountains.
Thomas told us of his experiences of running all day and all night alone in Ultra mountain marathons…
‘It becomes beyond the body ‘he said… ‘After fifteen hours the body is no longer there; to run in the mountains you must be very very strong…’
Anastasia into her second year of running spoke of the need for us all to move our body, to take time to be in nature, to keep free of the risk of slipping into unconsciousness and existing each day in unhappiness and unhealthy living, working just for money with an absence of joy…
‘Life offers risks for this to happen all the time’ she said ‘for everyone, and they do not even know it has happened…’
She loves to draw and paint, her beautiful artwork was evident throughout their home. She had painted a picture of a girl on a curved ceramic tile, and written on it ‘Found my family in a book…’
She handed it to me… ‘For you, because you are writer…’ ‘Thank you so much’ I said ‘This is so wonderful, because I have a global family, through writing my blog… Every day we meet together on the blank page of my never ending book…
This morning Anadi and I ran ten miles together; he has been gone from my side much of the time during the past two weeks, due to tripping on a step and gouging a big hole in his big toe…!
Today he could land on his foot without pain and we jogged along together, enjoying talking and exploring again, the miles passing easily as we ran our way to our sea swim under the clouds….
‘There is another space within me’ I said… ‘A space?’ Anadi said inquiringly ‘Yes, more space has opened up, a space where the struggle used to be…’
We are so used often to life being hard, difficult, earnest… I was taught this young by my Dad, with a positive intention… To prepare me for life…
‘Life is hard, difficult and earnest darling and the sooner you realise this the easier it will be for you…’
He was keen to give his children the skills and inner strength to manage whatever blows life dealt… And I am thankful to him for many of the attitudes and disciplines I have chosen to embrace…
But I rejected that life is hard, earnest and difficult and chose not to stay loyal to that story…
Instead I gradually let go of the struggle pattern and embraced that life is fun, to be enjoyed, to be embraced and lived fully each and every day…
It can be useful to examine our ‘family stories’ and the beliefs that were often imprinted at birth – often with the best intention. Which ones resonate, support us as we journey…? Which ones work for us, and which ones are outdated or not resonant at all…?
Which ones do we need to shed, to let go of and so make up a new story…?
A story that better supports the life we want to live...
