Memories

Strange things memories. How they flit and float at the edge of your conscienceness, not quite revealing themselves until the most unexpected moments.

At other times you can feel them them flooding back as they find and recognise a sound, song, place or any other catalyst that catch their fancy.

Good memories seem to have a far better shelf life than the bad ones. It seems far easier to pick out the good times than the bad times. Even some of those bad times seem to have gained a pleasant afterglow.

But those bad ones that are still clear and pungent, well I guess they hang around because they know that we can learn a few lessons from them. That is, after all, one of the most important lessons in life: learn from your experiences.

 Above: The day of the wind storm that almost blew us off the mountain. Sleeping bags, jackets and tents were lost. (Trek 2009)

Right: Long Cycles - when the chips were down there was always someone who was willing to give the extra hand (or tow). (Trek 2009)


Below: Pickers drenched in the flood that carried us a bazillion kms down the Breede - how we didn't miss our landing spot is beyond me. (Trek 2007)

A great example of how memories play these games with us is Trek. Now, for those who don't know, Trek is an odyssey undertaken each year by the Grade 9 year group from Somerset College. In groups of about 15, they hike, cycle and paddle for 27 days, over 380kms through the SW Cape.

As one can imagine, the stresses, difficulties and straight awful times are numerous and, at the time, seem back-breaking and insurmountable. This year, for example, out of the last seven days, we have spend five days straight hiking in the rain. Last year we had flooding in the beginning and blistering 27km hikes in the sweltering heat at the end. The moments of being wet, frozen, dehydrated, sunburnt or blistered seem so numerous when on the trail. I won't even start on the food...

Yet, somehow, as time passes so these uncomfortable memories either fade, get turned turned into tales of bravery and success or simply get pushed aside by better memories. It becomes a sunset instead of rain cloud, a laugh instead of a moment of weakness, taking shortcuts rather than getting lost. Its the swimming down rapids, night-time banter, chirps, claims of greatness - all the good things - that stay with us the longest.

Yes, more often than not the lessons from these tough days linger, quite often for the rest of out lives. But normally its the lesson that remains, not the event itself.

And so it works with lessons in life I suppose. It is those life changing moments that without you even realising it keep you smiling, laughing and learning.

                                                                               Originally written at Barrows Farm, Day 8 Trek 2009


Left: Good times - its these that aren't fogotten. (Trek 08)