Saying yes = adventures

We had to make an unplanned dash for home from our travels a few weeks ago. One of my adult boys needed me back home and of course family is number 1, so travel is on hold for now….but that doesn’t mean adventures have to be. This weekend I had a solo adventure….just what I needed after a very stressful few months.

Back in 2016, when Miles and I were on our first travel adventure in Queensland, we met another travelling family. Ironically they were from the same place I spent much of my childhood (The Central Coast of NSW) and the ladies partner was mates with one of my good friends first high school boyfriend. So while we were up in Far North Queensland we met up a few times and became friends and swam in creeks and shared beautiful chats, and watched our kids play and create together.

Then last week I saw this friend post on Facebook wanting cleaners for The Drop Festival (a music festival) in Newcastle…. Yep, I’ll do that!! I send off an email straight away. (I love saying yes to random things at the spare of the moment). Next minute Miles has headed to his Dad’s for the weekend and I’ve unloaded the back of my ute so I can free camp while I’m down there to maximise my profits for my three days work.

Saturday morning, 5am, I head off from Grafton trying to make my first shift start time of 12pm. Two times I have to pull up and nap and I’m thinking “dinner out and two wines last night with my son and his partner was probably not a good plan”. All good though I’m still going to make it on time…

100kms out from Newcastle I get a phone call from my friend Corrie (the lady I met travelling). Over the drone of my 4WD I can hear something along the lines of “the guy who was supposed to be doing………is not in good shape and I think you’re the person we need to take the job……..don’t feel pressured it’s a big job. Your accommodation will be taken care of….”

My response “Yep, that’s fine I’m up for a challenge”.

I arrive at Bar Beach to big hugs from Corrie claiming I’ve saved the day, and I say “I’m really sorry, but I actually couldn’t hear you over the phone….what am I doing?”

No big deal…it just turned out I became cleaning manager for the event. I hit the ground running…literally, 25630 steps. I made it through the first 14 hour shift with zero dramas and half the required staff (bloody hell, why do people put their hand up for work and not show??)

So…..that’s how I found myself to be sitting in the Orient Hotel in Cooks Hill, sipping a Pinot Noir, eating a vegan wood-fired pizza on a Sunday evening, listening to a young local muso do his first solo gig, instead of….heading to Alice Springs? Instead of free camping on the side of the road at Kurri Kurri?? Instead of hanging in Grafton feeling miserable that my grand life plans have been put on hold AGAIN!?!?

I’m sitting there, downstairs, in the small bar of an old pub surrounded by young people (they don’t have an age…..they are just named ‘young people’ because I have no idea how to gauge the age of people younger than me any more). I’m reminded of the me that could have been, except I became a Mum at 17, the ‘me’ I envisaged before responsibility and sacrifice made me become unselfish and boring. The ‘young people’ are brown corduroy wearing, Dr. Martin wearing, throw their head back laughing, canvas haversack slung on one shoulder type young people…those young people that ooze freedom and confidence and seem like they have oodles of time to spend with their friends ‘socialising’ and being ‘arty’….

And that’s what made me come upstairs and write my first blog post for 2020……I might be 41, but my life does has meaning, and adventure, with a sometimes unguided passion for life that comes from my spontaneous ‘yes’s’. And I CAN still be ‘arty’ and creative….I just need to take the time out of ‘life’ to be inspired, to observe, and to feel. All it takes is a moment of silence, to create some some brain space, and to not be thinking of the next thing on my list of things to do. I actually just need to spend some time actually chilling!!

And now I’m upstairs in my room. It’s nice, but has no aircon so the window (without a screen overlooking the street) is open, and I’m finding myself wondering if a Newcastlion stray cat might wander in through the window in the middle of the night…..

So cheers to spontaneous yes’s to random things that land you in unplanned and unknown places and situations, adding another adventure to my memory bank, meeting people you would have otherwise never met, doing things you’ve never done before, making connections with new people that might one day come in handy, learning new skills, eating pizzas in bars you would have never known existed, and cheering for the guy who’s doing his fist solo gig who’s partner is at home heavily pregnant with their first child currently experiencing pains that feel like she’s getting her period. CHEERS!!

Peace out,

Daniela