The human zoo

It's been sweltering in Melbourne lately. I can't remember the last time it rained proper, and temperatures have been above 30 for a record-breaking 8 days (with three more to come). The whole city feels like it's under attack from the sun, which is something I'm sure I'll be longing for in a few weeks time when grey autumn skies move in.

Over the weekend Tom and I helped some good friends prepare their country property to host a wedding in a few weeks' time. The hard yakka finished early, so we skipped off to a local lake for a dip. After a few nervous attempts at jumping in, I finally made the plunge, and was glad to cool off. There's nothing like swimming in a natural body of water in the middle of summer... although there's something about lake swimming and not being able to see the bottom that is a little unsettling.

Nearby us was a group of local teenage boys jumping into the water from a rope swing hanging from a gumtree. We sat there watching them for close to an hour, without much conversation between us. It was surprisingly fascinating watching these boys fling their weedy bodies into the water without a thought for their safety; every attempt, a punctuation mark between life and death. One of us remarked how similar it felt to being at the zoo, just sitting and staring at these living creatures rollicking in their natural habitat. If anyone was watching us I doubt they would've stayed for long, how boring we would've seemed sitting on the banks, doing nothing but stare. How strange we are, homo sapiens, who find watching each other so interesting.

A long haul flight

Awkwardly posed with some baby flamingos in Singapore

Well would you look at that.... seven months just went by.

Life has been a little hectic, to say the least. Getting married, changing job, moving house, going overseas and changing church within two months was interesting. I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone out there considering it. But you know what? Here I am on the other side. Thanks God.

Back in January, Tom and I were flying home from a very last minute trip to the UK to visit his sick father. We had to make two connections, with a total time in transit of 30 hours and I was feeling jet-lagged, exhausted and a little overwhelmed. I was sick of being in between places. I just wanted to be home. I wanted to be settling in to our new place, starting a new routine, finding a new normal.

I realised that's how I'd been feeling for about 6 months. As life threw up some pretty big challenges, I'd felt off balance, like a deer in headlights, at sea for as long as I could remember. In the lead up to getting married, I just felt this great sense of being on my way towards something more stable, but I wasn't quite there yet. I was in transit.

And now here I am, writing from our little apartment in between doing some odd jobs and writing projects. Life feels a lot more normal, and I'm ready to write here a bit more.

As for what this year holds for me, it's still unclear as I'm currently jobless, but I'm studying part-time at bible college, doing some freelance work, continuing the Spoken Project and getting used to being a wife. Hopefully I'm going to learn more graphic design skills too, that's a big dream of mine over the next few years. Meanwhile, Tom and I are watching lots of Downtown Abbey, laughing at each other and getting used to living in a one bedroom apartment. Fun times.

Watch this space.

How about you? How are YOU?