August 2015

Sim

Somewhere in the Zambezi Valley not far from Kaveve Spring on the Chewore River, there is a great Baobab - probably over 2000 years old, it stands overlooking the sands of this timeless river and all that cross it.

A Plaque sits high on its trunk, amongst the graffiti of the Elephants that adorn the grey bark, markings of many generations of the great grey Giants, left like messages for those who follow in their footsteps.

On the plaque there is an inscription to Sim, it was placed there ten years ago overlooking this bend in the river, by his friends and family as a memorial to him, in such an appropriate place, a place he loved.

In the shadow of this tree there is an overwhelming sense of peace – a feeling of quietness, a deep sense of knowing – a respect almost.  The timelessness of the view, makes one question our own mortality.  How is it that we are so concerned with time?  We definitely seem to feel we are timeless, or perhaps it is the prospect of life that means the most, the possibility that we have the next twenty four hours? Sooner or later we learn though, there are no guarantees of life in this form, however, such is our obsession with the future that we are seldom living in the present - living our lives in an imagery of a better place, a better life style.

Ten years ago this month, our Husband, Father, Brother, Son and Friend – Sim went on the  journey we eventually all take, impossible to believe and tragic though it was, perhaps it was always meant to be that way.  There are so many things that have happened in that time, it’s almost impossible to believe that its only ten years.  Every day I think about this incredible Man, a Man who lived life to its fullest, an incredible support and friend to all who knew him.  It’s been a tough ten years without you here – perhaps tougher now than ever, but we manage and know that somewhere you are watching, guiding and laughing at the comedy of errors we make.

As I sit here in my studio watching the sun drop on yet another beautiful day in Africa – I think of you and the great privilege it has been to be a part of your family all of these years - they carry you forward in a way that you would only be proud, they wear you on their chests!

I think of that day ten years ago when we saw that great male Lion get up in the shade beneath that Baobab in the Chewore, and challenge us, as though he too was guarding the tree.

And I think of you, there on that tree, watching over what is truly Africa, something you loved so dearly.  The tree, in so many ways represents what you mean to us all – that incredible strength and presence you were and still are.

“The tree is our meeting place, where we meet with “our brother”.  The meeting is not a noisy affair – it is quiet and respectful, where we remember and, as we watch the movie that is our minds, we see life for what it truly is - beautiful and unpredictable.”

“They say that it is not what we gather in life – but what you scatter that tells what kind of life that you have lived”

Will