Missing

This morning I got an email inviting me to add some new friends to my LinkedIn group, a networking tool that I don't use at all but did join as I left Australia. It was originally intended to be a business networking tool (unlike the more social Facebook) and allows you to include your bio and a resume.

Today's email invite was basically a list of my old colleagues. I know that life was full of work politics and unpleasant re-orgs, but my memory has mostly blotted that stuff out and focusses on the fun we had. The volleyball games in the parking lot, eating with the marketing team and overseas visitors with ocean views and fabulous fresh seafood, travelling to seminars, horse races, getting weekend travel itineraries from the Canadians who'd been there longest (the "experienced" siteseers) and long talks through and over the office cubicle partitions.

And then I read a blog and followed a link to a Port Fairy Music Festival. I love Port Fairy and started to reminisce while I wait here for an incoming work project.

Who would't miss this place? It's beautiful.
I was gifted with a beautiful print of this scene as I left because my colleagues knew how much we loved to drive along the Great Ocean Road towards Port Fairy. We drove this road with my parents when they visited and with my aunt and cousin as well. Beth fondly talks about it as if she remembers sharing the back seat spitting at my aunt, practicing the use of her tongue at about 6 months old.

Beth's first trip was at 5 weeks old to this small town. We walked along the small streets in the rain, looking at the old buildings and the along the boardwalk. April was late fall, heading into winter, and everyone looked at this tiny baby and she received looks and comments that implied we should be wrapping her more warmly or staying indoors with our newborn girl.

Between feeds, I abandoned Yvon and Beth when we saw this church with it's sheep enclosure just outside of it's own stone walls. I walked and walked for about an hour, enjoying my first freedom from the baby that was still physically such a part of me. Yvon worried about where I was because I hadn't intended to walk for so long. It was beautiful and peaceful.

This morning I'm listening to ABC (the Australian Broadcast Corporation) and enjoying the accents of the announcers occasionally and wishing I could go to the Port Fairy Music Festival.