Happiness in a picture
This post was made in response to the [WE98] Weekend-Engagement Friday blog prompts post.
I use a lot of our pictures in my family stats posts and usually, I need to look for the most photogenic pictures. Today I did not, the one prompt was "Happiest time of my life" and I think this picture does it justice.
My hair is messy and usually, she does not like most of the pictures that I take but my face lit up with a smile as I saw this picture. I felt in my heart that this was the right picture to pick because of the way that it made me feel!
We met at the start of 2020 before South Africa was put into hard lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Our government decided on an initial 4 weeks and then extended it to another 4 weeks. It was a grueling time, full of fear and doubt. Was the world coming to an end? Will there be a socio-economic collapse with civilians fighting over basic resources while being repressed by military forces?
Gradually the restrictions were eased to allow people to go back to work and the gears of the economy slowly gained speed again, fearfully looking at the stats of how many people were getting ill and how many were dying.
Among all this panic and fear I found the love of my life. 2 years and 4 months into our relationship. We have now been living in the same household with our 3 kids.
Since then we have gone on many adventures. Hikes in the mountain, walking on the beach, social gatherings with friends and family, and road trips to other towns. In a short time, she has made me feel and rediscover who I am again.
Parts of myself were missing and dead. I was an uninspired creative who just loves writing fiction and yet my "pen" was idle. My mind is full of stories that I want to write but without the willpower to actually put any work into them.
The laughter and joy and experiences that we have had together changed my life. With this joy also came a position to be vulnerable and work through feelings and hurts that I would usually keep hidden, festering in my heart. Feelings that I could not share with my ex, nor even my own father.
It is a testament to a healthy relationship that I really can open myself up and be able to work on the most sensitive parts of myself and this at the end of the day makes me a stronger man who can accomplish more in life and do more for my own family.
Ok, I did not expect to get so personal so quickly. It was a great prompt and the picture and the reflection really put me into the zone. I feel grateful for it.