CHAPTER 21. A SLOW, GROUNDING SANCTUARY (P.1)

It was at this point that my mum and her special little man Byron moved back to the block in her camper van. This allowed us all to be together and support one another. Mum and dad had been separated for nearly 20 years but it was important to us all that we were together, as a family. This period of time that we all shared together is one of the most special moments in my life, a time I will always remember fondly. During this time mum did a tremendous amount of work in the garden. The beautiful flourishing garden out on the front of the hill is due in large part to her hard work as well, a pleasant reminder to us of what we shared while she and Byron were with us on the block.

During the 2021 off-season I took the opportunity to go slow, something I regularly discussed with my psychologist, but had rarely been able to implement. The regimented start time was thrown out the window, each day I would wake up and follow my internal compass. Directed by that flame inside, still burning. But what once was a bonfire, was now just an ember.

I concentrated on doing the things that I actually wanted to do, many of them still on the block and the house, but I now found a sense of calm by cruising along and being creative at a pace dictated by nothing other than my own desire to do the work. Rather than grabbing the needle of my internal compass, I had let it go and allowed it to point to where is was naturally drawn.

First on the list was building a small workshop off the side of the container up the back of the block. The irony in the timing of building this workshop (after the project) is not lost on me. Many people have asked why I didn’t do this first, but it just never felt like the right time and the marvellous scout tent never left me wanting for more.

Building this workshop was more of a healing process than anything else. Made only from existing materials on the block, a lot of which were Dad’s, left over from when he sold the cottages down the road. It was an opportunity to build within the constraints of what I had, to embrace my creative ingenuity, to just make what I had available “work”.

Putting this little workshop together ad hoc reminded me of what it felt like to enjoy the process of building again. It felt closer to how Dad and I used to build things together when I was a kid, practical, but also free and expressive. It felt like I was reconnecting with Dad.

I built this at a fairly cruisey pace over the course of a month and it set me up perfectly for the projects that lay ahead. Slowly but surely I started making some progress on the Nook again. These are but a few of those additions made during that time.