“She is free in her wildness, she is a wanderess, a drop of free water. She knows nothing of borders and cares nothing for rules or customs. ‘Time’ for her isn’t something to fight against. Her life flows clean, with passion, like fresh water.”
Roman Payne
We don’t celebrate birthdays.
Today Rachelle turns 40.
People come into our orbit. Sometimes for a short time, some stay a long while, some forever.
They shift in, circle, become part of your tiny solar system, and shift things in various ways.
Not all of them are positive.
Rachelle didn’t shift into my orbit, she swallowed my galaxy.
She is my Universe.
“Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learnanything or anyone
that does not bring you aliveis too small for you.”
David Whyte
Christopher Ryan talks about the three pillars of a relationship—lust, love, and compatibility.
It is not a matter of compatibility with Rachelle. She is wild and free and will not be tamed.
You are a leaf and she is a raging river, you either trust her flow, be cast ashore, or drowned.
There is no question of love or lust, both were there from the moment I met her. My compatibility lies in my trust in her free spirit, she is like chasing the sun.
“Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.”
Charles Bukowski
We are sitting in a pub at Mount Macedon having a beer and a steak. It is 2016.
Shell – What would you think about moving overseas to teach?
Grant – I am not opposed to the idea.
A few days later she has a job in Malaysia.
Things move fast with Rachelle.
“Never did the world make a queen of a girl who hides in houses and dreams without traveling.”
Roman Payne
Shell – We should cycle around Europe.
Grant – I can’t ride a bike.
Shell – You better learn.
Twelve months of cycling through Europe.
Déjà vu.
“What is a Wanderess? Bound by no boundaries, contained by no countries, tamed by no time, she is the force of nature’s course.”
Roman Payne
For over a decade, you have made my life complete, my Wanderess.
I remember when we first got together, people talking about the ‘honeymoon’ period.
It will fade, apparently.
I love you more today than I did a decade ago, a year ago, a month ago, a week, a day, an hour, a second.
You are my Universe.
I love everything about you.
“what matters most is how well you walk through the fire”
Charles Bukowski