It’s a windy evening at the beach. The sun is sinking into the lap of a fluffy white cloud and the rays peeking out from behind cast a golden hue all over the sky. There are so many young couples/families out enjoying a pleasant evening, a number of elderly people walking or sitting on the stone slab and taking in the sights around them. A bunch of youngsters are tying a volleyball ‘net’ and readying the ‘court’ for a game. It’s a typical Sunday evening at the Elliots beach, or Bessie Beach as it is lovingly known.
My attention is suddenly diverted by the excited squeal of a little girl. She’s around 7 years old and skate-boarding on the pavement of the beach. She shouts out, “Amma! Come quickly! See how fast I’m going!” Her mother follows, running quickly to catch up with her and calling out, “Be careful baby!”
A lot of people turn around on hearing the excited shout. They notice that the mother is a fair young woman, dressed casually in a t-shirt and track pants. And the kid is a dark skinned little one, who but for her nice clothes and perfect English might have looked like she lived in the slum nearby.
Heedless of the stares around them, the two of them continued running along, a happy excited smile on the little girl’s face and the mother enjoying her daughter’s excitement while keeping an eye out for stones and bumps on the pavement.
And those of us who are witness to this happy scene are reminded, that for some wonderful people and special families out there, a baby doesn’t have to mean pregnancy and childbirth, but of simply and unconditionally loving a child as your very own.
Thank goodness for this truth, P&P. If it was not so, this “aunt” would have missed out on much love!
Oh its wonderful to hear that!
blesss you know sometimes when all is lost it is this unconditional love of someone that can keep us happy ..
I went on a tangent here
You did go off on a tangent, but its a lovely thought. So thank you for commenting!
>>’The sun is sinking into the lap of a fluffy white cloud and the rays peeking out from behind cast a golden hue all over the sky.’
There, I read not just a beautifully written description, but wonderful skill where the ‘sun’ (son) implies the child, the ‘lap of a fluffy white cloud’ refers to the love of the fair-skinned young mother and the ‘golden hue’ possibly is a reference to the glowing happiness.
Lovely post. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it!
Wow. I’ll be honest and admit I didn’t think of it that way/intend to write it that way. The sky just looked like that, on that day..
Thank you! You’re brilliant at seeing even unintended metaphors.. 
In the end it is the values the young mum instils in her beloved little girl that will stand her in good stead. The beautiful accent is, to me, a definite plus.
Very true!
“Blood” only goes so far.
I truly pity the people who think that ties of blood are the ultimate ties, because these people miss so much. The ties of a society as complex as ours are SO MUCH more tangled, and intertwined and beautiful than that. What are a few scraps of genetic material compared to a fleeting smile shared under the cool shade of an old tree, compared to an instant of joy shared and savored, compared to the savory sweetness of an entire night spent chatting about nothing, compared to the heady rush of being held by someone who loves you truly, compared to that little touch which makes you feel warmer than any brandy ever made? We may find all that in family and we may very well not. It doesn’t matter.
Love is something beautifully sublime, something much above the ebb and flow of cultural mores and norms and the arbitrary rules of society. It is a beast of our own imagination, in the end, yet it reigns free on far flights of fancy, floating over the meadows and fields and peaks and valleys of our own mind. Completely unhindered by what another may think of it. It flows between the parent and the child, the lover and the loved, like a river, carving its own path around society with contemptuous ease, breaking our barrage of rules into a million tiny pieces along the way.
From our necessarily human vantage point, at least, love is beautiful in all its forms, and it knows no boundaries or traditions or niceties of manner.
You put it across so beautifully. I have nothing else to say
Thanks for commenting, CE! 
A very beautiful post that wonderfully reminds us the true essence of unconditional love and bonding that people often fail to understand.
Thank you for sharing this
Thanks, my era!
Awww…. such a lovely post
There are moments like this which wants us to keep going, isn’t it? 
Moments that are both ‘aww-inducing’ and inspirational, SB! And it reminds us of how much love there is in the world and to reach out and grab all of it
As a woman who’s suffering the heartbreaks of infertility, this post really touched me. Thank you:)
I’m sure there’s a beautiful baby out there, who is just waiting for you. I wish you get all the happiness that you richly deserve!
Am glad I could be of help. *Hugs!*