Good things happen.
A postcard from home on a good news day…
Te Ara Tupua, walking the newly opened harbour cycling/walking way between Petone and Ngauranga, with my oldest (longest, earliest) Wellington friend. The day was softly bright, the harbour glassy blue. The smooth pathway is great for bikes and the motorised wheelchair Trish uses. Before the information sheds we found ourselves bumpling ( I went to write bumping, but bumpling is even more apt) on a long section of cobbles. Maybe for trucks during construction? People walking towards us, smiled as though full of music from a concert of their favourite band. A man came grinning alongside us, ‘isn’t this wonderful!’ ‘Your first time here too?’ Lots of kids and families and people photographing one another beside the water. Dogs of all sizes. ‘Lets go down every one of these!’ said Trish, as we reached the first look out. Stepping off the highway of humans, it’s calm and expansive beside the water. In the cold afternoon lee of the Western hills, our out breaths turn to steam.
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I’m expecting news from family and I keep checking my phone. I don’t normally do this and it feels odd. On our way back, in the stream of people, it’s a steady pace. There are places to stop and read about oyster catchers, little blue penguins, and the story of this place. We talk of coming back, the bus or train to Ngauranga then the return journey to Petone. Old friends, we laugh at the same things (teenagers dressed in identical tops, a very small dog with a big presence) often communicated with a look.
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After the walk, we soak up the day at a sunny seat near a small beach stream. Two boys, in quiet reveries, wrapping strips of harakeke flax around small pieces of driftwood. An older woman is with them, and two small dogs. One of the dogs, a Jack Russell terrier, Trish notices, has a gentle, wise, watchful presence. A pair of paradise shelducks, pūtangitangi, drink at the stream, a low spot on the stony bank, before the fresh water meets the salt of the sea.
The geese and the reveries of boys, the wise watchful dog - seem auspicious signs for the good news I’m hoping for. It’s not the birth of a long awaited child, but something similar. Every good thing that happens in the muchness of a Wellington-on-a-good-day-harbour-walkway-Friday, pours into the blue bowl of sky, sea, goodness and possibilities.
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Before our walk, I held the book Trish has been working on for the last several years. Her third book and her first for a younger audience, 12 yrs and older. It’s beautiful and…it’s yellow! Solid, hard cover, rich in stories and history. I hold it to my heart. I can tell you now, because it is in the world, launched and belonging to the community. ‘Out of the box by Trish Harris. 25 Deaf and Disabled artists, activists and adventurers from Aotearoa New Zealand.’ Published by Otago University Press. A much needed book, a book that will make a difference.
When the message finally pings on my phone, it’s the best news. Each of us connected with this, poured our love into this outcome. Something that was not and now will be. Like the walkway around the harbour. Michael says of the walkway: ‘it used to be a kind of wasteland, possibly mined (he jokes) and now it’s a place and a walkway.’ It will keep on being a good thing. Like Trish’s wonderful book and the good news thing. Things that come out of the box. The accessibility of Te Ara Tupua. Cycled and walked, a place to strike up a Wellington conversation, meet a new dog, enjoy solitude by the water or laugh with a dear friend.
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Trish took some of the best photos of me in years, the harbour behind me. ‘Your harbour,’ says Trish. In my journey for belonging, this warms my heart. After goodbye, my steps take me beside Petone beach. The wide blue harbour, Te Whanganui a Tara. This place that welcomes, that lets me belong. A home place. A place where good things can happen.
Sue Matthew ©️
So good. And I look forward to the new book by Trish, a terrific writer.
Lovely, so evocative. I must do that walkway!