An evening alone at the beach

Despite growing up here, somehow this area feels like our area rather than mine. Anita loved splashing around in the waves close to the shore and riding a wave in on the belly board. Being down here without her somehow feels unnatural.

Yet the timeless feeling of the surf and the sand here gently and relentlessly reminds me that we are all just travellers through this landscape. Even the ones who have never left will one day leave.

Perhaps my travels through so many lands and coming to be familiar with them too helps me to accept the fact that she isn't here.

That is not to say I no longer feel her loss from my life, but rather that I accept we must all move on.

That day in January 2006 when she left me at Incheon airport to return to Finland (and me to Australia) I knew that my life led in her direction. The month we were apart before I left Australia for Finland was long and hard. Every day was an eternity and a long wait. Yet now it seems like a blink.

Perhaps the time between now and our reunification will one day too seem like a blink