I recently went on a trip back home to Australia as it was my Mum’s 90th Birthday and I hadn’t been home for 7 years. Her health wasn’t what it used to be so it was time to venture back and enjoy some quality time with Mum, family and friends.
As soon as we landed in Sydney I could feel the joy in my spirit rising. I didn’t have to work or meet and deadlines and I could simply be here, be in the present and drink in the beauty of what was around me.
Sydney never fails to shine regardless of the weather. Even though it had been raining for weeks, the sun was shining and it was a dazzling day. The thing I noticed first and foremost after living in Las Vegas, which is a veritable desert, was how green and alive everything is. It was erupting with liveliness. Everywhere I looked was green. Thick grass was bursting out everywhere, trees were laden with leaves that seemed to hum and flowers in gardens were on display in their full regalia.
On the drive to Bowral to visit my Mum, this was the constant view that greeted me. It was simply spectacular!
I could feel my heart swell to overflowing as I continued to take everything in. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of being home.
Spending time with Mum was priceless! We laughed, we cried we chatted for hours on end and we celebrated. We celebrated her birthday, we celebrated her wisdom, we celebrated her cheeky sense of humor and we celebrated just for the love of it, the love of being.
Each day I would walk from my Mum’s former house that she was getting ready to sell to the nursing home where she was now residing. Even though she was no longer living in her house, it was still filled with her energy, all the wonderful memories of being there together with family and friends, all the meals we cooked and ate together, all the laughter and stories that we shared, it was still palpable as you walked into every room and gazed at beauty she had collected over the years and had around her.
On my way to the nursing home I would cut across the grounds of the estate of Mum’s former house and walk past 2 parks before getting to her new residence that was nestled in the surrounding bushland. On my journey there would always be a chorus of birds singing that would accompany me. The throaty laughter of the kookaburras, the shrill cries of the sulphur crested cockatoo, the galahs gaggling, the rainbow lorikeets softly squawking, the forlorn melodies of the magpies all mixed with the sweet cadence of the rosellas. The Aussie bush was teeming with life and the musical sounds of Nature that I’d grown up with.
Sometimes I would just stop in my tracks and listen as if I was hearing them all for the first time.
After I came back home, at around 7.30 pm when the sun was setting the cicadas would take over and sing their melody to the world. I would go outside and stand barefoot on the grass looking at the beauty of the surroundings and the expansive sky.
Everything around me was celebrating being and I was simply in awe and wonder at how beautiful everything is. Regardless of what’s going on in life when we stop and just be in the present moment we are overtaken by the celebration of life that is us and around us.
When I stayed in Sydney and went to Bondi Beach where I grew up and walked around where I used to live in Woollahra and where I used to frequent, Watson’s Bay, Camp Cove, Vaucluse, Rose Bay and Double Bay it was totally delightful!
What I realized was celebration is in any moment. Whether you’re with people that you love, celebrating a birthday, catching up with family and friends, you’re alone in Nature, you’re sharing a stroll along the beach, you’re collaborating with a colleague or you’re inside listening to the rain falling.
Whatever I am doing, in any moment I can stop and celebrate.
Life is a celebration, every breath we take is a moment of Divine grace if we stop and take the time to enjoy it.
Now that I’m back in Las Vegas, I’ve been diving back into working but this time there’s a difference. Now I take several pauses to celebrate.
So when is a good time to celebrate?
Any time is a time to celebrate!
