Mum and I was sitting at the kitchen table gossiping about the Crown Princess Victoria and her Daniel because they recently visited a local Castle called Läckö. This reminded me of the Swedish Exhibition in Melbourne in 2005 that was opened by her. This was an exclusive event that needed a personal invite. My then supervisor Chris Burns was so generous as to give his invite to me. But since I did not want to go on my own I called the organisers up and asked if my daughter Elin was allowed to come with me. That was fine they said.
The Princess was on an educational 10 day tour to Australia and it was a hectic schedule for her. What I loved most was her warm presence. I walked a few steps behind her most of the time when she toured the exhibition. Once she stopped and kneeled down to talk a class of school children. I am not sure they even realised they were having a chat to a Crown Princess but Victoria was clearly enjoying this group of children that might have been around 5 or 6 years old. I followed her waiting for an opportunity to approach her and shake her hand. There were security guards of course and I had identified them and suddenly I was able to talk to one of them and ask
- Is it OK if I walk up to Crown Princess Victoria now and shake her hand?
They said
- Yes, just go ahead.
I was so happy and immediately did just that. What happened next is so embarrassing.
I LOST MY TONGUE!
We stood there shaking hands and looked at each other but no words came out of my mouth. I so wish I had had the courage and wit to say something. I was so nervous and was so happy to just stand there with her. But it would have been nicer for her if this silly Swede had said something nice to her like:
- I adore you and your style! You walk almost like a Buddhist. Sorry, I am a Buddhist and we try to walk slowly as to not hurt the little insects on the ground.
I really like people that walk slowly. That to me is a sign that they care about things. This is something I am in the process of learning, I mean to walk slowly. Often I get so eager and want things to happen quickly. But my Buddhist studies has something called the third Paramita. It means that you need to have patience. Things will happen when they are supposed to happen. Don't rush things! Be very mindful of the moment you are in just now. That is enough! At the moment I am really enjoying the early Swedish summer. I have lots of photos but have not been able to transfer them to the computer yet. I have decided to learn more about IT from Jessica. She is my brothers daughter and I usually ask her for help with my mobile or PC. Her parents can be very proud of this young and beautiful girl. I knew I would be if I had a daughter like that. I sincerely hope that my own kids understand that I am so proud of them. It is hard to know what they are thinking when I don't see them much. I blame myself for the situation I am in preventing them from seeing me.
I do a lot of practicing slow walking in the forest and it is so calming. I can recommend it to anyone going through any sort of stress in their life.
HOMAGE: I pay homage to the original teachings of the Buddha. Everything I think, say and do is an interpretation of the writing found in sutras and scriptures.
