When you’ve lived in a place more than a year, and you’ve seen the turning of the seasons, it’s comforting to see that cycle start again. Admittedly, I haven’t had the opportunity to experience this often or recently, so perhaps that’s why it feels special. Or perhaps it is because it is spring here in Zimbabwe, and spring is surely the most joyful, playful, hopeful, and all sorts of other “-ful” words of all the seasons.
As I experience the life-affirming birth of plants and animals for the second time, I notice the other things that are happening in Zimbabwe again this spring – the cat-and-mouse game the weather plays, temperatures slowly mounting, clouds rolling in, storms breaking the weather for a time, until the temperature slowly mounts again; the countdown until the generator brings us power 24 hours-a-day; and the garden bringing such plenty that I struggle to cook and eat enough to keep up with the amounts of beans, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries, and papayas, that the garden begs me to eat.
All I know is that this time last year, I was struggling. I would wander around my cottage wondering what to do with myself while I waited for the power to come on; I would fill my afternoons and weekends with reading, swimming and riding in order to help pass the time; I would complain endlessly of the lack of hot water, lack of things to do, lack of social life, lack of grocery store… But this time, none of that. I’m doing the exact same things – reading, riding, swimming, gardening, cooking, walking. But this time, it doesn’t feel that I am doing these activities to fill time, but rather, to fill out the time. To make it more beautiful, more meaningful, more peaceful, more full.
I’m not sure if it’s seeing evidence of the Circle of Life repeating itself on the farm that is responsible for my fresh attitude to life; I’m not sure if it’s this Circle that is responsible for me finding my place here, for me finding contentment and peace. But what I am sure of is that this Circle of Life has moved me; the beauty in its eternal repetition has touched me and has opened my eyes to the awe and wonder that is the world.(Don’t worry, I’m still leaving on December 21st, people!)
Clayton Roche - Fantastic