My Australian Mum

The sun is setting yet here I am off to work again. It’s pouring down rain, my neighbors are having a party, and I”m biking up a hill. Getting drenched nonetheless. I quickly change in the bathroom and appear fresh in my black attire. Tonight is burger night at the Beachcombers and we already have customers. Two women walk in and request gin and tonics. I seat them at a candle lit table while my coworker makes the cocktails. The rain has begun to calm down put I can still see streaks of lightning fill the sky. The women ask where I’m from and before I know it they’re trying to set me up with the scuba diving instructor down at the Lagoon. I laugh as it’s not the first time someone has mentioned that I needed a boyfriend. I coyly change the subject and ask them about themselves. Turns out these women have been friends since the first grade, here they are forty years later on their first holiday of just the two of them. I congratulated them and said the next round of cocktails was on me! One of the ladies wrote down her address and phone number for me to contact her when I’m in Australia. This is my first encounter of someone that reminded me of my mum, I said thank you and looked forward to seeing her in months to come. I became friends with the ladies by the end of the night and hugged them goodbye. 

I forget that every time I have traveled I have also acquired a mum. A Scottish woman befriended me in a pub in Scotland, an Australian woman at a hostel in Arizona, my nun friend in England and here these two women on a stormy night at Lord Howe Island. It’s comforting knowing that there are people out there that will protect me and take care of me. People that want to go out of their way to make me feel okay and happy. Traveling can be scary but meeting people along the way that will hold my hand makes it that much better. Maybe they are all closet moms and treat every wanderer like this but regardless of their reason, they’ve been there for me and that’s something I’ll always be grateful for. One day I’ll be lucky enough to meet a wanderer like myself and offer a bed, a hot meal and listen to their story.