LIFE BEFORE SIBLINGS

All photographs taken using an iphone5.

Please email me if you would like to use the images. 

 

Earlier this year I was heavily pregnant with my second child. It was a hot Australian summer and I was slowly losing my mobility in the thickness of the heat. Puffy fingers, swollen ankles, you know the spiel. Paddy and I were enjoying our last moments together before the arrival of his sister and we enjoyed picnics at the beach, yum cha dates and hours at our local game centre. It sounds silly now, but at the time I was feeling guilty and anxious that I was responsible for changing this equilibrium of peace and contentment by bringing in another child into the family. When Matty and I decided to start renovating our house in the final weeks of my pregnancy, I took the opportunity to take Paddy away from the building site that we called home, and on a little holiday up to Nan and Pop’s place. Just me and him. It was kind of like a coming of age I guess, because he was also starting school in February and his sisters due date was burgeoning in the weeks after that. So I took this time together to be like a full stop to toddler-hood and life as an only child, and as a peaceful welcome to the new chapter in both of our lives.

Off we chugged up the coast on a Country Link train to enjoy a couple of long summery weeks with Nan and Pop. We shared salty days at the beach, cool dips in the surrounding rivers, coffee dates at sleepy cafes and the excitement of new holiday friendships for Paddy. Most mornings we were greeted by all sorts of native animals, usually poor little outcast Kangaroos, lone Butcher birds and at night we were graced by a single mum Possum with her babe curled up inside of her pouch. They made frequent returns to Nan and Pops garden, which is always in abundance with available shelter, food and water. Our afternoons were enjoyed with games, reading, yoga and home cooked suppers at the table together. We enjoyed revitalising early nights tucked up into bed with the sounds of nature coming out to soothe us to sleep. When we arrived home we were both a few shades darker, our hair a little drier and our hearts a little closer.

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THEY WENT RIVER SWIMMING

On this day we drove for a long time along a single road which cornered and bent and went up hills and downhill. The inside of our car flickered with sunlight like a candle as we navigated our way around trees whose tops stood high into the sunshine. I turned around from my seat to check on the kids, they were sleeping. I held my twisted turn a little bit longer than expected, mesmerised by both the absence of cars behind us and the plume of dust trailing behind us.

The bumpy rocking of the car over a narrow bridge gently nursed my son to wake up. Outside, there was the peaceful being of a river streaming around the mountains edge which we had just traced. Out of the car, we all followed a damp dirt trail which slithered under fallen trees, rocks and down into a myriad of smooth and flat pebbles. These pebbles formed a satin bed for a crystal clear river which lazily streamed down from the surrounding mountains.

I balanced along a tree trunk and sat myself down on the thickest part. My feet dangling close to the glassy water. It was cool and fresh, but the heat of the day was not uncomfortable enough to make swimming an inviting option for me. Across the way, my son was already knee deep in the water and Matty was busy wetting his feet exploring further ahead and closer to the bridge. My daughter was sleeping peacefully in tune with the nature around us.

Matty and our son practised skimming flat bed rocks along the top of the smooth river top, they swam over to large boulders on the other side and he swimmingly cruised parallel to the river bank which was prettily fringed with dangly green leaves and dark brown tree roots. I sat and watched and I tried hard to tattoo all of this into my memory so that I could bank it for a time that I needed to smile.

Getting our son to come out of the river was a difficult task. Each time we sang out that it was time to go he would swim back to the boulders on the other side of the river and he would sweetly beg for more time. He was also trying to hang onto this day. We promised him that we would come back one day.

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 The Promised Land is located on Australia's East Coast.

All photographs were taken using an iphone 5.

Please email me if you would like to use my images.