Unexpected healing...

Uluru cooking

🌄 At sunrise, I got to walk around most of Uluru by myself which was a very special experience.

But after the rest of the group caught up with me at our meeting point, I didn't feel the need to be solo anymore. Which turned out to be perfect timing.

A woman in the group asked if she could walk with me for the last bit. Her three daughters were going to stay with the guide and she didn't want to be by herself. In broken English she thanked me for asking the group when we got dropped off, if we could walk in silence for the first section when the sun was rising and we were passing an especially sensitive part of Uluru. 

Of course not everyone in the group remained silent which is why I made sure to stay a few hundred meters ahead at all times.
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As the two of us headed off for the last section of the trail, the woman explained that she had travelled to Australia with her husband 19 years ago for their honeymoon. But unfortunately they missed out on Uluru because of some unfortunate event she didn't have the English words for.

Now she had returned with her three early teens daughters to complete the trip their dad never got to have.

She went on to explain that a year ago, her husband passed away. And this trip was to teach her daughters that life needs to be lived even after a loved one dies.

Wow.

How do I respond to this very delicate story?

Here is a woman who has come on a pilgrimage and I've been invited into her most tender moment. It was also her first time to not be in "Mum mode" with her three daughters back at the bus.

After a few quiet steps I asked her if she could tell me about her husband. I'd love to know who he was.
She was so grateful for me asking.

And for the next ten minutes she told me about the love of her life. And how lucky she was to experience such joy. And how much she tries to focus on that many women will never have that.

She explained how her husband lived for her and their daughters. And how they were always his priority.

Instead of his 50th birthday party they had been planning, she somehow had to organise his funeral. He had only been unwell for one week.

Just as she finished sharing we arrived at a cave, and took turns taking photos of eachother.

As we left I read the sign that said that this used to be the gathering area for the women. And where they cooked together.

That too felt like such perfect timing.
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I try to  be on the lookout for important conversations at all times, knowing that so many meaningful opportunities are missed because we are too busy or too "proper". But this one felt like I could have soooo easily have missed  it and turned out to be the most important moment visiting Uluru. 

It was only later on the bus that I realised that the conversation felt healing for myself as well. In the next few days it will be the anniversary of my first husband passing away. And eventhough it happened after we were divorced, this time of year always weaves in threads from his sad storyline.

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It's hard to explain, but I have this image of women cooking communally together. And eventhough we might be chopping away at our own pile of vegetables...once they are chopped and thrown into the giant pot, they are now no longer "our pile" but a shared experience of a full meal.

This woman's beautiful experience of being loved and prioritised was "thrown into the pot" and through her sharing it with me, I got to have a taste of what that's like.

📸 For more photos of Uluru, please look at my Happily Made Village post on Facebook.