Narrabeen Afternoon

First published Jan 6, 2012

It wasn't till I got down to the beach that I realized I had left my DSLR camera at home... memory card still in the computer.  Some days are like that.  At least I had my trusty iPhone on me!

It has been a long three years of taking care of my dad, who suffers from Parkinson's disease.  (For more on that story, click here.)  For the first two years, I lived in denial, and in the third year I realized the situation wasn't going to take care of itself, so I would have to do something about it.  After much angst and deliberating, I moved us from Vancouver to Sydney, for a number of reasons.  The past two months have been about getting him settled into a care home.

Long story short... as I was walking along Narrabeen beach, I could feel the weight slightly lift.  The panic that had my heart rapidly beating for three years was slowly abating.  I realized that these beaches are now my beaches!  After years of visiting, and feeling panicked about spending as much time at the beach as I could before departing back to Canada... I can now relax and enjoy the beaches at my leisure.  I feel very privileged to be living here, especially sweeter given the long road to get here.  It feels like home, and no wonder, as I just realized that my first residence was just a few blocks over from this very beach!