Muddy Toes, Golden Hearts

Behind the scenes

2 Aug

I've been making a concerted effort lately to spend meaningful, quality time with my son. It's so easy to get caught up in day-to-day routines and forget what it means to spend truly mindful presence with another person. I think it's our biggest gift to one another.

On the way home from kindy, we made a little detour to our favourite place together - the Hays Inlet mud flats. At a certain time of the year before dusk, the tide goes out and the water looks like beautiful, metallic glass sheet that goes for miles, all on a backdrop of mountains and mangroves. It's pretty awe-inspiring and gets you right back into your body.

As we amble along, we quickly get accustomed to the cold mud squelching between our toes and begin looking out for treasures. On this particular day, shelled creatures lined the moist floor and we picked them up to view the beautiful colours beneath their muddy exterior.

We walk far enough out to come across my favourite mangrove tree, standing so proudly amongst a sea of vertical roots reaching up from the ground beneath it. The sand beneath it feels plush as we walk over thousands of tiny balls of sand, made by busy little local crabs.

For a while we stop to take photos of each other with my Canon Powershot waterproof camera - a perfect companion to snap beautiful moments like this.

Max directs me to "Keep moving back Mummy" until he lines up to capture his perfect shots too.

The rest of the afternoon is spent experiencing the sights and well, just enjoying each other's company. The golden sun slowly sets behind the mountains, casting a warm orange glow across the vast open sea bed and over the mangroves surrounding.

As the sky starts to darken and Mummy carries tired child on her back, monkey style. This brings back old memories of carrying Max in his 'pouchy' as a baby only today, Maxie tells me over and over ... "Mummy? I Love You."

"Me too my darling" I say, as little tears of love spring to my eyes as the love rises up from my chest.

So this is something that cost us both nothing, but our time dedicated to each other. Time so, so well spent. It's moments like these I hope he remembers as he grows up and looks back on his Life. Moment where he knows he is loved and safe and living in a world brimming with wonder and hope. This is the legacy I hope to pass onto him, my first born son.