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| Although this stance seems awkward and cumbersome, they perform it with grace and ease with careful foot placement and strength. |
“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”
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| “The foot of the giraffe reaches a diameter of 30 cm (12 in), and the hoof is 15 cm (5.9 in) high in males and 10 cm (3.9 in) in females. The rear of each hoof is low, and the fetlock is close to the ground, allowing the foot to provide additional support to the animal’s weight.” |
I’d expected this 70th year of my life to be very different than what it is today. With a long-term chronic medical condition (since resolved), I’d expected to be living a life of pain, discomfort, and disability.
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| They wandered across the road to get to the watering hole. |
Always ambitious, I supposed I’d have found a way to be fulfilled within the framework of these limitations but never, in my wildest dreams, did I ever imagine this life…this magnificent life.
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| There were eight giraffes in the “tower.” |
Twenty-seven years ago today, I met Tom Lyman. How that transpired is shared in last year’s post on this date which may be found here, which is also indicated below in the “Photo from one year ago today.”
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| Giraffes can run at paces of 60 km (37 mph), but their motions appear slow and deliberate when grazing and drinking. |
I highly doubt that I’d have shared this morning’s contemplative comments with my husband, partner, lover, and travel companion that quickly crossed my lips while sitting at the big table on the veranda.
“Look at us. We have eight zebras, two bushbucks, and a warthog in our garden this morning. Yesterday, we encountered eight giraffes, as shown in today’s photos. We’re living in the bush in Africa. How did we get so lucky to have one another, to be here at this point in our lives?”
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| I was contemplating taking a drink from the waterhole. |
We looked at each other and smiled, simultaneously saying, “Who would have to thunk it?” Neither of us ever dreamed of nor imagined this type of life in our senior years or at any time in our lives.
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| Perhaps, one more drink? |
And today, 27 years after we first met almost serendipitously, opposites, headstrong and non-committal, that here we’d be, glued at the hip, as they say, traveling the world precisely as we choose.
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| They were standing in the queue at the water fountain. The other giraffes in the tower lumbered across the road to share in the drinking from the pond. |
We don’t travel to lands where others “think” we should travel. We don’t necessarily visit tourist locations on most traveler’s “bucket lists,” and oddly, we don’t even have a “bucket list.”
We plan and experience whatever falls into our hearts and minds as the “next place” (as Tom calls it, as his “favorite place” when asked). And essentially, every place we visit is our favorite at the time when we strive to “live in the moment” wherever we may be.
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| Each giraffe has its manner of bending to drink and is also subject to the surrounding terrain for foot placement. |
But this? The memories of these endless experiences we’ve shared here in Africa and all over the world. It’s something special, not only for the “living in the moment” aspect but for the promise that we’ll carry these memories with us until our last breath.
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| What could this huge bump be? |
In a way, the memories we capture in our minds and photos become almost half of the experience in itself. We know that soon, this Africa chapter will end, and a new chapter will begin. A year from now, we’ll be in Ireland for three months. How different could that be?
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| There’s nothing like a handsome face! |
But for now, we celebrate this life, this time, this place with one exception. Today, we celebrate 27 years ago when we first met an unlikely couple who somehow found their way together in this unparalleled existence of pure and unmitigated joy in the world’s endless offerings.
Thank you, dear readers, for being on this journey with us and your inspiration for our unstoppable commitment to continue documenting every day.
Photo from one year ago today, June 28, 2017:
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| This was Tom around the time we met in 1991. For more details, please click here. |