Of Kate and Doug

Of Kate and Doug

In the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, we chanced upon a bamboo plantation. Pretty much every trunk had some names, dates and love hearts carved into it.

One of them proudly announced that Kate and Doug were absolutely smitten with each other. Well… at least they were on 1/2/18. That was five years ago and it left me pondering a few things.

First I am delighted that these two people had discovered each other and were enjoying each other. The world could do with a lot more of this gooeyness.

Secondly, I have to admire the way they made their adoration for each other so very public. And not just Kate and Doug, but a whole lot of other people had unashamedly put their passion for each other on display.

But then I wondered … what had happened to Doug and Kate? Let's say they were eighteen at the time of their carving, that now makes them twenty-five. Did they go on loving each other? Did they marry, make children or did they separate painfully or worse maybe one had died suddenly and tragically?

I’d like to believe that they went on blissfully for the next five years. I reckon that there would have been arguments and disappointments, as well as champagne and kisses. But of course, I have no way of being sure.

But the one thing I do know for certain is that on 1/2/18, in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, Kate and Doug were together, they were in love and they were not ashamed to profess it.  And they have left an inspiring and lasting legacy not only on the bamboo trunk but also for me. For when grumpy things begin to gurgle and bubble in my being, I stop and I remember Kate and Doug.