10 things about my day that made it beautiful (in order of smile factor)
#1:
"WHAT??!!"
Rochelle almost fell over herself in the middle of the road, when she saw me.
Next was a huge high five, and a huge grin as we talked about coconuts and holidays and work. It wasn't so much talking as falling over words, as we were both racing due to surprise and time constraints. Altruistic, stunning, gorgeous, authentic human. Rochelle is all that.
A big smile for a long time after that... I can't wait to work with those folk again.
#2:
I couldn't be luckier if I tried... at the end of an echoy old corridor, on the otherwise empty top floor of a a hoary old building, was professor Jon. The timing was uncanny: Jon and I have been colleagues and associates, but on Niue, he was basically a celebrity. I didn't know until today that he lived there for a year.
He asked about Mamata, he knew about the Crazy Unga cafe, he knew Peniamina and Suni and Jim and all of the others. He knew.
I thought about him a lot - and how nice it would be to touch base and debrief and to see how he's faring with all of the changes at work. But the guy spends months of every year in places like Svalbard and Niue and places that only geographers like him have ever heard about. So I didn't think catching up would ever actually happen. Jesus.
#3:
Another smiley warm face happened today (actually lots did - see below) - but this one was one of my favourites. I ran into one of the warmest, smiliest, most genuine ones around. After six months, I ran into Skye.
We only caught up for a few minutes, but she showed so much genuine caring in her . We are not even close to old friends, outside of work, but it felt a bit that way. I think I'll send her an email tomorrow, so that we can wear scarves together and share a chai, and so she can tell me more about how her dogs and her artwork is going.
#4:
Well, actually, I ran into a heap of other people today. I saw Linh twice - which is ironic considering we are playing soccer together in half and hour's time. And Greg and Emma, who are both doing great things at work even though they are raising two adorable daughters. Then there was Hardy. and Illy, who detected the ruminants of kiwi left in my voice, as any Aotearoan would. And Anne-Marie! Who was walking her dog as I sit in Royal Park typing this.
#5:
Royal Park. Good, romantic, everything-is-right first date memories, instilled for life.
#6:
I managed to find my way into work 30mins earlier than expected. Today I just started to get a glimpse of being someone who has spare time in the mornings... maybe it'll stick with me. I called into a library - a lovely one, not really to do very much, but because it was open.
#7:
The kid blowing raspberries on the tram window.
#8:
The exchange of a smile and even a hello from a grinning stranger - a student, presumably. I'm not sure who caught who's smile, but it was a nice touch.
#8:
I had some time to kill after work, so I wandered through the wells of the city, where I found THREE secluded shopping arcades that I didn't know existed. It's a labyrinth to find each, but incredible that we have such things in our city nonetheless. One had an art gallery in it, one a vegetarian restaurant, and one a bar that you would never know was there... unless you knew.
#9: The button-cute couple on the tram, of which the girl said: "If you could levitate yourself, and the tram was moving forward, would you be going backwards?"
My brain played with this for a while.
#10: Football is happening again tonight. In a world where I no longer feel myself, where everything still feels excessively strange and weird, I'm really reveling the chance to play social sport again. Something fun and laid-back and above all constant. I'm so lucky to have the privilege of doing so.
#11: A Wi-Fi network called "weshouldallsharewifi"
#12: A DNS registration record called bad-person-dont-do-this.mydomain.mysuffix
#13: Jake and Clairey are in town. Although there's half-promised plans to catch up tonight (which might or mightn't happen), it's just great to know they're around.
---
Ok so that's thirteen.
Little things in life are amongst life's most important to me at the best of times, but at the moment they have even more especial meaning. Things like this are normalizing me at the moment, making my days feel normal and with less periods of failing to fathom how incomprehensibly weird and terribly confusing it is to be back.
"WHAT??!!"
Rochelle almost fell over herself in the middle of the road, when she saw me.
Next was a huge high five, and a huge grin as we talked about coconuts and holidays and work. It wasn't so much talking as falling over words, as we were both racing due to surprise and time constraints. Altruistic, stunning, gorgeous, authentic human. Rochelle is all that.
A big smile for a long time after that... I can't wait to work with those folk again.
#2:
I couldn't be luckier if I tried... at the end of an echoy old corridor, on the otherwise empty top floor of a a hoary old building, was professor Jon. The timing was uncanny: Jon and I have been colleagues and associates, but on Niue, he was basically a celebrity. I didn't know until today that he lived there for a year.
He asked about Mamata, he knew about the Crazy Unga cafe, he knew Peniamina and Suni and Jim and all of the others. He knew.
I thought about him a lot - and how nice it would be to touch base and debrief and to see how he's faring with all of the changes at work. But the guy spends months of every year in places like Svalbard and Niue and places that only geographers like him have ever heard about. So I didn't think catching up would ever actually happen. Jesus.
#3:
Another smiley warm face happened today (actually lots did - see below) - but this one was one of my favourites. I ran into one of the warmest, smiliest, most genuine ones around. After six months, I ran into Skye.
We only caught up for a few minutes, but she showed so much genuine caring in her . We are not even close to old friends, outside of work, but it felt a bit that way. I think I'll send her an email tomorrow, so that we can wear scarves together and share a chai, and so she can tell me more about how her dogs and her artwork is going.
#4:
Well, actually, I ran into a heap of other people today. I saw Linh twice - which is ironic considering we are playing soccer together in half and hour's time. And Greg and Emma, who are both doing great things at work even though they are raising two adorable daughters. Then there was Hardy. and Illy, who detected the ruminants of kiwi left in my voice, as any Aotearoan would. And Anne-Marie! Who was walking her dog as I sit in Royal Park typing this.
#5:
Royal Park. Good, romantic, everything-is-right first date memories, instilled for life.
#6:
I managed to find my way into work 30mins earlier than expected. Today I just started to get a glimpse of being someone who has spare time in the mornings... maybe it'll stick with me. I called into a library - a lovely one, not really to do very much, but because it was open.
#7:
The kid blowing raspberries on the tram window.
#8:
The exchange of a smile and even a hello from a grinning stranger - a student, presumably. I'm not sure who caught who's smile, but it was a nice touch.
#8:
I had some time to kill after work, so I wandered through the wells of the city, where I found THREE secluded shopping arcades that I didn't know existed. It's a labyrinth to find each, but incredible that we have such things in our city nonetheless. One had an art gallery in it, one a vegetarian restaurant, and one a bar that you would never know was there... unless you knew.
#9: The button-cute couple on the tram, of which the girl said: "If you could levitate yourself, and the tram was moving forward, would you be going backwards?"
My brain played with this for a while.
#10: Football is happening again tonight. In a world where I no longer feel myself, where everything still feels excessively strange and weird, I'm really reveling the chance to play social sport again. Something fun and laid-back and above all constant. I'm so lucky to have the privilege of doing so.
#11: A Wi-Fi network called "weshouldallsharewifi"
#12: A DNS registration record called bad-person-dont-do-this.mydomain.mysuffix
#13: Jake and Clairey are in town. Although there's half-promised plans to catch up tonight (which might or mightn't happen), it's just great to know they're around.
---
Ok so that's thirteen.
Little things in life are amongst life's most important to me at the best of times, but at the moment they have even more especial meaning. Things like this are normalizing me at the moment, making my days feel normal and with less periods of failing to fathom how incomprehensibly weird and terribly confusing it is to be back.