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Arriving

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The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.”

                                                                                             - Robert Frost


On my 50th birthday, I am sitting on a low stone wall next to Matilda and Jan Badenhorst. It is late afternoon in the Luneburg valley, with the sun low in our backs. Jan is busy telling us about his horses in his gentle, calm voice. The beautiful stallion strides past us, all power and elegance.



Photograph by Matilda Clifford

In the card Matilda gave me early that morning she quoted Wendell Berry:


And the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles,

no matter how long, 
but only by a spiritual journey, 
a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and joyful, 
by which we arrive at the ground at our own feet, 
and learn to be at home.


I am grateful that my life, up to now, has brought me to this afternoon.


George






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