Ruben told me on New Year's morning "Mum, if you touch a thorn slowly it doesn't hurt you".
We spent the Eve of 2008 in an isolated mill in Somerset where the only sound was the rushing stream and the only light our own. In the company of three good women. For me it was great to get out of London, to such a beautiful place with old friends. However for Ruben it was far more, as there were so many firsts:
He lit a coal fired stove, and made toast over its embers. He stood in a river. He stood in it and threw stones and floated leaves to the sea. So, so content, throwing stone after stone after stick after leaf, and could only be persuaded to leave at the prospect of a crossing a bridge and hot scones for tea. A high tea with clotted cream and strawberry jam. We collected drinking water from a spring. Got wellie-boots stuck in the mud, and enjoyed the sucking sounds as they pulled free. All these old, traditional or even eternal activities, were totally new for him.
Sometimes we have a little nighttime word game where we say "I love you as...". On New Years Eve I said I loved him "as hot as the embers in the stove" and his reply was "I love you as cold as the water from the spring, not ice but nearly ice".
Thank you Esther, Hannah and Asher.
At home writing this I feel so strongly the weight of this concrete city. My son can recognise at least 6 types of vehicles just from the sound of their engine as they drive past. He knows his way around the London Underground system. He can do a very good imitation of a machine beeping scanned goods. And yesterday was the first time he stood in a river. He thinks the countryside is a "Big Park" and so I assume conceives of it surrounded by a metropolis.
I hope that how we started 2008 represents how it will proceed; more contact with nature and beautiful spaces, the company of good friends, good food and standing firm in rivers. I want to continue learning wise lessons from thorns and from my son.
9 comments:
oh Alix and Ruben...
It sounds fantastic. How lucky of you both!
maybe you can recreate at home in the city some of that magic you felt in the country to make the weight a little more bearable :)
I wish you a thriving life this coming year and look forward to your company.
beijinhos
mary
Seems to me it was a great begining of 2008! Have a very good year :)
City Boy.
My girl's a City Girl.
I'm from the bush.
Hard, sometimes, isn't it?
Such a good way to begin 2008 !
Have a happy new year !
I know exactly what you´re talking about. It doesn´t feel right rising my son here in the city. I want him to stand in a river throwing rocks. I got tears in my eyes as I read this.
Thanks for dropping by my blog, always nice to have comments from people here in the uk.
this post of yours is just so idyllic sounding, i am still a kid at heart that would play in a river all day and only be tempted out by food :0)
happy new year
What a beautiful and touching post, Alix! Particularly for any mom who grew up in the country side (even if just partially) and now has to raise her kids in the city...
Such a lovely post, as a country bumpkin I can't imagine what it must be like to grow up in a city, but I do remember how exciting and marvelous I found my trips to London when I was small- I think there's room for both kinds of life if you are able to mix them up a bit from time to time.
Now...where did you stay in Somerset? It's my home now and i'd love to know where you were!
I was in Buckland St Mary, wherever that is, as I was driven there and haven't checked a map properly! I think ideally cities are great as teenagers and adults, having said that I was born and brought up in London, with lots of travelling in the back seat of the car and camping.
It's all about bloody balance isn't it?
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