The stories of my life on a little island in the middle of the Mediterranean sea ... and my occasional adventures beyond these shores.

Friday 23 April 2010

The Long Way Home

I don’t usually write posts about my daily life – it’s very mundane: work, home, sleep – you get the picture. Life on a small island in the Mediterranean is very picturesque but hardly ever very exciting. But sometimes, something happens which stirs things up a bit. Today the driver of an excavator hit a pedestrian bridge on the major road which feeds the south part of the island. No one was inured – except the bridge. The problem was that the road was closed to traffic for several hours and, this being an arterial road that needs to be used by several industrial areas and villages in the south of the island, chaos ensued.
I heard about the accident at work and, since I usually have to drive through this road after work, I decided to take the long way home. The problem was that I was not the only one to have this bright idea. Bottom line – I was stuck in the car without moving an inch for 30 minutes in a dusty country road, hemmed in by other vehicles. There was no turning back, everyone was in the same predicament. Yet, oddly enough, instead of fuming, as I would usually do, I felt an ironic sense of inner peace. And I wondered why I was so calm as I stared out of my window at fields of ripened wheat, abandoned farmhouses and patches of crimson clover. For some reason I could not quite understand it, so I drove on, behind the others, at the pace of the fabled tortoise. Around 30 minutes later I had made it to a town on the west side of the island and from there I drove out to the road that winds itself along the cliff tops and would finally get me home.
Dingli Cliffs (1)
Dingli Cliffs (13)
And as I drove there, completely alone, with a sheer drop on one side of me and the garigue which is so characteristic of this part of the island on the other, it hit me. I felt free as a bird because, for once, I did not have to follow the usual routine. A freak accident had made me take the long and scenic way home and I was enjoying it without worrying about whether I would be back in time to cook or clean. It was here that I realised that my journey home was like life’s journey. Sometimes, in life, we have to take the long and winding road, and although we may finally end up in the same place, we have the time to appreciate the beauty of the places and people around us. We can take the time to stop, to  listen, to love, to breathe. So the point I wanted  to make before I started rambling is this – live life to the fullest, even if sometimes it means you have to take a detour – because life is fragile, life is precious. So take the time to savour the beauty of a wild flower, to smell salty sea breezes, to do what you always wanted to do, to make someone smile …  Take the time  – to find your inner peace and to be the person you always wanted to be.
  Dingli Cliffs (22)
P.S. No I did not have my camera with me, but the scenery was very similar to these pictures :)  

12 comments:

  1. This is such an inspirational post Loree!
    My husband was caught up in this traffic lineup too, have to get him to read this : )
    Thanks for sharing your thoughts,
    Doreen

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  2. Really enjoyed reading about your long trip home. Beautiful writing and images. :)

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  3. indeed...sometimes the adventure is much more wonderful than the destination!

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  4. Beautifully said. Beautifully written.
    Thank you for a wonderful reminder that sometimes the longer road turns out to be the one with the most treasures.

    Blessings to you! Have a beautiful weekend!

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  5. Such a wonderful post Loree! You are very right, we need to take the time in life to appreciate the small things. Its funny how something as regular as a traffic jam can bring us to that realization. I love moments like those :o)

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  6. Loree, I would like to thank you very much for the good wishes for my Mother in law, she's recovering well and will be home on Monday.
    I loved reading this post, you have such a wonderful way of expressing your thoughts and it's a pleasure to read. I think we're all so very busy that we forget to stop and appreciate the good and beautiful things life and nature offer every day.
    Sue.

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  7. Wonderful post, Loree! Moment like this is so rare in our busy mechanical life, but you have inspired us to take a different look and slow down..Gorgeous photos as always!

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  8. A beautiful post. I do so agree, because as you know my friend is dying, life can be taken from us at anytime. Live life to the full. I am stress free, I live as you did for that short moment. I threw in the towel and need for material things, to get a life with inner peace.
    I hope you get to drive that way home and experience that again, Loree.

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  9. Beautiful post..shining with wisdom and insight..powerful! A super-Wonderful read!
    Kiki~

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  10. What a wonderful experience ! I learned with the time to try to make out the best of annoying happenings. And I also found a solution when I am bored at home. I take my car and I drive and drive and admire the landscape,I don't know where I am, I take pictures and enjoy. When I think it's time to go home, I push the button "Go home" on my GPS and I follow the instructions. When Mr. G. asks me "where have you been ?" I can only answer : I don't know, lol ! To me my GPS is so precious !! I have no sense of orientation.

    So when you see a cat, you think of me, that's really cute, lol !

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  11. Beautiful pictures and an important point. I'm very guilty of not "stopping to smell the roses," as they used to say. Today an eye infection is slowing me down. And in some ways it's a blessing.

    Thanks for the reminder!

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  12. What a powerful lesson learned! I'm so glad you shared. It reminded me of the times I used to spend stuck in commuter traffic (which is a part of life in the San Francisco Bay Area) and how many epiphanies came during those "tortoise times". Unfortunately, I didn't have a scenic route option as you have. I just had to stick it out and make the most of the time.

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Thanks for stopping by. I read and appreciate every one of your comments. I will do my best to reply whenever I can.

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