On Wednesday I took this photo of a mist that lingered all day. On Thursday I took the photo below. The wreckage on the right is a caravan in which I used to live and love decades ago. Off-camera is the farm it belonged to, which is now semi-derelict. It was always a dirty farm and I’ve fallen into the crap more than once — not funny for me at the time but funny to bystanders and funny to look back on.
I don’t know how the caravan got to its present state. It was small with just a kitchen, bedroom, toilet and wood-burner but it was home for a couple of years. I then bought a large caravan elsewhere and was doing it up to bring onto this farmer’s land with his permission. There was one other caravan on the farm and the occupant, Ray, asked me about my new caravan, where exactly it was sited at the moment. Not long after, my new caravan mysteriously burned down before I had chance to live in it. I later found out Ray was an arsonist who they finally caught after he set fire to several buildings.
So now I’m looking back at the past and the hopes I had for the future, ruined by someone obviously very out of touch with life’s simple beauty. Whereas I enjoy my country walks every day, he’s maybe thinking up ways to make other people’s lives as miserable as his own. Who knows? That’s only speculation. Perhaps he turned around and chose to do the right things. I hope so.
I think perhaps the way we are feeling now influences our memories of the past. I’m OK, I’m happy with my lot, so I don’t look back with anger or hate at the people or events that spoiled my hopes and dreams. I remember things with fondness and am grateful I keep finding my peace every day.
(Day 10 of the #100DaysToOffload Series)
Comments
Pleiades
I’m sorry about your loss, I must had felt awful. My dream is actually very similar to the one you described. I’m happy that you learnt to overcome the adversity and to embrace the teachings involved. Life is always giving and, sometimes, painfully taking. The fact that we are alive to appreciate this is something we can always feel grateful about.
Peter (Author)
Thanks for commenting, star person. I was fairly young so soon recovered and moved on. It must be really hard for someone who’s spent many years trying to achieve their dream only for something like the pandemic restrictions to leave them with nowhere to turn. I feel really sorry for those people. But I don’t think putting heart and soul into a project is ever wasted. In the end, they might lose all materially but they have the satisfaction of having done all they can and being stronger for it. I hope they can see it that way and at least die happy when their time comes.
Care to comment?