Paula Broome
‘wanderlust’ photo series
1. Australia
This was my very first trip.
I was too young to understand the concept of wanderlust or to perceive
the love that the wonderful woman in the picture had for me. How
could I know, at six months old, what life would have in store for me? I
couldn’t possibly. My life, here, was a blank canvas.
And yet, looking at this picture, the events of my life so far slip from my
mind. Because what does it matter what I do for a living, who has let me
down, or how I did at school? It matters a little, but not really. Because,
to me, life is about adventure – where you go and who goes with you.
Of course, everyone has different values and priorities for life. Some
people want to raise children, some want to become great scholars.
Some want to save lives and some want to do not very much at all it
seems. But I want to travel the world with the people who mean a lot to
me. That was once family, now it’s partners, often friends. Sometimes I
set out alone, unaware that I am about to meet them. This has been my
priority for as long as I can remember. Maybe that feeling was inherited
from the woman in the picture. Maybe the sea air was absorbed into my
bones on that first trip.
This beach became a second home for me. I spent summer holidays
here, making friends with people and, more often, dogs. I would walk
the one kilometre to the nearest shop every morning, looking at the
ocean, unaware of how lucky I was to have this. I would buy sweets and,
later, cigarettes. It was to become a place that would never really leave
me. I can still rattle off the postcode and mimic the accent.
The people I visited here have now passed away and I have no reason to
return. But I don’t need to go back there, physically, to still smell it, to
feel it.
The place is Australia, and the woman is my Nanna.