Legacy

What were you born for??

In this cruel world of suffering and refugees and homeless people and war and taxes and divorce and hatred and PMS and Trump you can’t help but wonder why it is you turned up on this here planet… right?

I mean, whether we like it or not, we’re adding to the problems. 

We’re simply another mouth to feed. Some more footprints of carbon. 

We’re the ones having bad days and mood swings and frustrations. We’re the ones cursing the check-out counters for the back log of elderly people taking an hour to buy half a litre of milk. 

We’re either the bosses other people hate or we’re the ones spreading hate by bad-mouthing our bosses.

But what are you living for?? Why are you here?

We all won the sperm race. We’re all alive today. 

We forget that there may be a reason for that.

It’s easy to simply exist: eat, sleep, work, facebook, repeat. 

It’s easy to hang out with this or that sort of person. It’s easy to relax in your comfort zone. It’s easy to simply be. 

But is that living??

In staunch contrast to the gawking beauties of the islands of New Zealand, I’ve seen more pain and hardship than I have in a long time. I’ve been more confronted with death and pain and suffering than I’d like. It’s bought me a few tears and break downs; but it’s also bought me back to life.

Sometimes we get so caught up in comparing ourselves and our abilities with others. It’s easy to think that we’re not good enough or that our lives are meaningless. 

We’re selfish, but often self-loathing. 

We’re rich in so many things, but we all call ourselves broke. 

We’re too scared to give for fear that we won’t have enough. 

We’re all too scared to try things, just in case we fail.

But if you have legs; go places. 

If you have eyes; fill them with beauty. 

If you have a voice; sing, laugh and yell for joy. 

If you have friends and family; hug them often. 

If you have dreams; chase them.  

If you have life; make the most of it.

One day we’re all going to die. The question is, what legacy are you going to leave behind??

Temporary Employmentedness

Where was I....? Hmmm...? Tamworth - that's right stuck in Tamworth! The hellhole that is Tamworth. Chicken farmers. Foreigners. More chicken farmers. A big guitar. Nothing else. Nothing. I no longer had hopes. No longer had dreams. No longer had money. No longer had faith in mankind. I suppose I was alive and I should at least be grateful for that but Tamworth doesn't exactly make you feel very glad-to-be-aliveish...

I spent the morning job hunting and trying to find direction then grabbed my bags and headed out to the highway. I was going in whichever direction the first car was going. I knew I needed to get away from that place! I raised my thumb to the hitch when the german receptionist ran out after me. "I have job for you. Come quick. Okay?" I followed her back into the hostel and she passed me the phone.

"Well, I need someone to help me with my kids and horses" said the friendly lady on the other end of the phone.  "Do you have any experience with children?" I went into details of the years of random childcare my life's accumulated and I heard her smile. I don't know exactly how you hear someone smile, but she did. "And what about horses?" "Well... I owned a horse for 8 or 9 days once..."

Duke, my favouritest of the horses

Within the hour Renee arrived and I was off to a little town in some other nowhere land and I became a horserearing nanny lady. That was Wednesday. By Friday I was quite settled and was all packed and ready for the weekend's camping horse show when I decided I'd probably better check my mail quickly  and let mum know I wasn't dead (She worries sometimes). I scanned through the spam and found a "no subject" one that began "Hi, Thank you for your application. I would like to invite you to our induction week commencing on Monday 18th April (next Monday) at 07h30 sharp."

I'd briefly met an English girl back in Bellengen who worked at a bush camp (whatever that is). It sounded fascinating so I scribbled the name of the place down on a scrap of paper and stuffed it into my pack. Stuck in Tamworth I'd stumbled upon it, googled it and found that applications for new staff had closed just a week earlier. I sent them a CV anyway... This was their response.

Now came the dilema: I'd just started on the horse farm and the family was lovely and and and... but this Bush Camp induction sounded way more exciting; even if the email didn't even include my name and was a little general - let's be honest, it's just an induction; hundreds of people might be invited.

I stared at the computer for hours (probably only 3 and a half minutes in real world time) and then went looking for Renee - she was busy strapping the kids into the car - they were all set for camping. I gulped. And then gulped again louder. I just mentioned the Bushcamp and the kids were cheering so loud from their memories of the camp that Renee marched me inside and made my mind up for me.

We tried to call the camp. Answering machine. It was almost 5pm. It was a Friday. I returned an email "See you Monday".

I unpacked my belongings from the car and bid the kids farewell. Renee left me with their house and their ute and their horses and organised me a lift to the highway for dawn-o'clock Sunday morning and then they were out of there.

 Before I knew it I was unemployed again and hitching back into the unknown, headed for a little town called Tea Gardens.

Harry... the dog who thought he was a horse.