Home sweet home

As the fog rolled in yesterday afternoon, one of my neighbours pulled on long pants and snuggled into a jersey. An incredibly unusual event! With darkness looming, braais were circled on the street in front on my house. Flames engulfed the coals, beers opened, wine poured, and neighbours relaxed.
 

It was supposed to be as balmy as the previous two evenings but instead cold and eerie thick fog blanketing the evening. One should not complain about the middle of winter! Packs of children cycled, skated, shrieked, and terrified boys ran howling from kiss intense girls. Another night to remember!

This morning, nothing but a lone marshmallow on my lawn remained. Except of course for the unusual neighbourhood community spirit and friendship which continue to grow!

18 people over to play

I live in a crescent, a half circle. On my street there are houses, filled with families. Friendly families with lots of kids and lots of wheeled toys!

Many an impromptu meeting takes place out on the tar. Coffee, wine, and beer are often ordered and served hot or very cold. And wheels and balls make any good conversation go round.

I often wonder how I ended up in a neighbourhood of friends. Where real community is taken for granted. Where our children play out there; on the road and in other people’s gardens. Where life almost seems as good and free as it was when I was a child.

We are so blessed!

Four little wheels

It has been six months since it started serving our family as a tool of rapid acceleration toward bodily injury but it received its own share of abuse last night!


About 16 teenagers from a group called Son Surf descended on our half pipe. Son Surf is a Christian group for surfers, and is very active in our area. Skating and surfing go together as they require similar in strengths in balance, core muscle strength, and careless abandon!

These kids set that ramp on fire! Well not literally! I had no idea that the stunts I saw could be pulled off on my ramp; airs, reverses, and long grinds off the top. The skating madness encouraged me to keep my poor skating skills well hidden; and instead I compensated by sticking a big flash on my camera and documenting the mayhem! There were of course some spills. One mad kid after being dared to get some air into a bush without his shirt, thought nothing of doing it twice! A number of other kids dropped in for their first time, making my own mental inability to do just that look pretty stupid!

What a wonderful group of youngsters. Excitable, energetic, and full of madness! They were also polite and friendly, and certainly seemed to be the kind of kids that I would like my children to have as friends growing up.

Luke got into the thick of things, dropping in and pulling off some tremendous top turns. He almost seemed to grow as the crowd cheered and applauded him. A tremendous boost to his self worth that no money could ever buy!

Chalk up another win for the half pipe!

I have many wonderful male friends whose support, advice and friendship has been invaluable throughout my life but absolutely critical over the last couple of months. I have enjoyed many deep and exciting conversations that have challenged my thinking in many ways. These friends have encouraged my further growth and development and been deeply concerned about my wellbeing. I could not be where I am today without them all.

Yesterday, I met a fellow traveller on a similar path to mine. That in itself was an incredible highlight, to actually find somebody with very similar thoughts and ideals. More than that, we did something very different, certainly a first in my life. We set aside a whole day for a chat.

In a world where men spend most of their time stalking their prey with stealth and cunning, like leopards. In an explosion of aggression and speed, they pounce and rip apart the unsuspecting victim with their superior force. Without compassion, they drain their new found prize of all its life and joy, till it lies unmoving and rotten.

And we had a chat! For the whole day....

It is hard to describe a discussion that was so deep and wide ranging. Where I was able to bare my soul without fear and know that I too was getting a deep look at the soul of another. Where ideas and thoughts tumbled forth to be encouraged with more ideas and thoughts. Where my half baked theories were exposed for what they were and I was inspired to look further and deeper for answers than I had ever done before.

It is funny for me as a guy to write about a discussion. I suppose that this is a space generally reserved for crackpots, billionaires, nutty professors, and one or two orderlies from the mental ward! It was simply two men catching up on a lifetime of very separate experiences linked by a common bond, the need to serve others. Yesterday was a gift. One of those rare occasions where one connects to another human individual on a level so deep that it frightens.

A new friendship has been born. I know that both of us had the feeling that this day was so important that our lives have been changed. Our futures radically altered in ways that we are yet to experience. The great possibility that the power of two is so much greater than one. We can shake the world!

This was just a chat, that may have changed my life!