For the past few days, Mike and I have been staying in the middle of nowhere. And by nowhere, I mean somewhere not too far from the Kruger National Park in South Africa. No mobile signal, barely a smidge of internet connection and just the sounds of wild animals to wake us up in the morning. The final part of our journey here was a dirt road of 8km, which took us a slow half hour.

Two nights ago, the skies were so clear, that all you could see for miles were stars. So just outside our chalet, we took some long exposure photos in the hopes of capturing a few of those stars. We both wanted to take the image of these stars home with us. The photos were mostly to play, and also to help us remember this feeling when life gets busy again.

It been a while since I have checked in with me. Life has been pretty manic with planning our wedding as well as all the regular work and life stuff in between. I loved that we got to play a bit. I took off my photographer hat and we just played as if I didn’t know the technical whys of how this worked. All I wanted was to grab a little bit of how we were feeling right now, take it home with me, and bring it back into everyday life.

And then I realised. This is what I try to do for you all the time. Aim to help you check in with you. Encourage you to remove your regular hat, and take a little bit of play home with you, to hold it close to your heart when life gets a bit heavy.

It’s funny how the middle of nowhere can become somewhere beautiful.