John Flavel (c. 1627-1691) inspired my memoir. As Wikipedia reveals, he had a productive life although not without difficulties.
Attribution: Hopwood, James, ca. 1752-1819, printmaker, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Source: Wikipedia Commons
The urging of people to write about the experiences that occurred in a 40-year period of my life was easy to dismiss because I always thought that when I get to the end of my life, and should I ever have achieved anything, then it would be obvious to anyone that Providence did it. But then I took a long walk with Jill on the 1,000km Bibbulmun Track. The synthesis of hiking and stimuli to reflect on life’s experiences coalesced into a realisation that maybe a narrative based on journals I wrote during a period of my life could be of interest to others.
On the long walk Jill and I followed the Waugal . . .
. . . trudged through wet days . . .
. . . and were grateful for events or evidence that indicated progress (even if it was raining) . . .
. . . dried out today’s clothes ready for tomorrow . . .
. . . plodded on fine days . . .
. . . enjoyed the track when it sometimes joined the coastline . . .
. . . were confident of being on the right path even though signs appeared confusing.
For me, it was a time to ponder what it meant to emerge at a Crest of purpose after an Ascent of preparation . . .
. . . and arrive at a point where Perspective made sense of it all: a realisation that I was a bamboo camel!