Reaching out, Touching me, Touching you
Sometimes when it's a glorious morning like today, when I'm driving the kids to school, I yearn to be on the other side of the hedge going down the road.
On the other side is the golf course.
On a morning like today, the sun catches the grass and surrounding trees, just so, and although we can catch tiny glimpses through the hedge, we can't breathe in the majesty of the moment.
This morning, I was up early and felt a strong urge to head into the park and enjoy being on the other side of the hedge.. By 6am. I was dressed, the dog was on a lead, and we headed in.
There's a particular spot that I love. Just at the entrance to the golf course, where the view takes in a small path on the right, a slightly crooked bit of fence, and you can see the swathes of grass and line of trees in the distance heading to the upper lake.
A few years ago I took a picture of that spot, when the snow was newly fallen and the sun was rising in the distance creating a magical serene scene. A couple of years later, I asked an amazing artist friend of mine, based in London, to paint a picture for our house, based on that photo. She did an amazing job and the picture takes pride of place in our house in all its gorgeous dark blues, sharp whites and misty sunrise colours.
This morning I found myself in the same spot, enjoying the lush greens and dappled hues of the bluebells, still with the glorious sun rising up behind the trees.
I took another photo, and spontaneously decided to reach out to this friend - we're not in touch very often - with greetings from 'our part' of the park, wishing her a good Monday, and, remembering that she is an A level and GCSE art teacher, wishing her a moment of calm at what is most likely a stressful time of year for her.
She sent a message straight back. She was moved to tears as it was, indeed, a stressful time of year, and receiving my picture and message really touched her.
We had a short exchange of messages and promised we'd speak this week.
A tune came to my head as I carried on through the ravine.
"...Reaching out. Touching me. Touching you..."
What a small, momentary, insignificant, free thing to do - to send a photo and short message on Whatsapp. What a huge gift it can be - and was today - to send a little smile down the internet, to have a brief catch up and honest check in, to hold space for each other for just a moment before whatever the day has in store for us. To draw strength from that morning moment together.
Shame her name's not Caroline....
