Thinking Allowed: Back to Canberra

When you leave a place it keeps going without you. The cafes and parks stay busy, new social alliances are quickly formed to fill the gap you left, businesses shut and new ones open, and the trees and grass keep growing. Ten years ago we first came to Canberra. The arboretum had just opened a few years before and felt as fragile as my young children with its large stretch of saplings from around the world. I loved that fledgling arboretum, but at the time I joked that I'd need to come back in 10 years to really know what it would be like. I'd forgotten that hope until I suddenly found myself unexpectedly in Canberra at the teenage arboretum with my now bigger children. The saplings can hold their own now and I no longer hover over them. Gone are the wooden supports and frail looking boughs. Still, like my children, many of the trees have a lot of maturing to do. I think I am going to have to come back in 10 years.

It has been nice to revisit a place that is part of all of us. Canberra is like an old dear friend. The same charm, the same stunning nature, the same circular paths and roads forming gyres surrounding the lake. It has been so nice to reconnect with old friends. Meeting up with friends reminds us of how very dear they are to us. People age, but still, they remain the same at heart. Sometimes, I sort of wish I could spend my evenings by a lantern writing passionate letters to friends abroad. Somehow the details, thought, time and penmanship required of letter writing feels like it would maintain a stronger distance relationship. Alas, I have no lantern, no address, and no inkwell so we will just have to revel in the company of Canberrans while we have them close. Thanks Canberra for taking us back into your fold for a little bit and for being a fun space to play out the years end end and birthday season.