The Blue Wren

We were on a road trip through Australia, somewhere between Sydney and Melbourne. As with all road trips you pass through numerous small towns, most of them not attracting enough attention for stopping and exploring that is unless you need an urgent toilet break.
That was in a nutshell how we approached this. We would go through all the travel brochures – pick a few towns where we would like to spend a few hours and then make the important decision of where we will spend the evening. The rest of the town were reserved for pit stop breaks. With this philosophy we hit the road.


As we drove into one of our pit stop towns we were fortunate enough to find public facilities by the edge of the road. We jumped at the opportunity. After around 3-4 hours in a hot car you are relieved to stretch your legs, even without being in need of other forms of relief.


Mario and I was on our way back to the car, to tackle the rest of the road ahead, when we were approached by an elderly couple. They were clearly on a bush expedition, dressed for the bush, binoculars around the neck and bird books in hand. The lady noticed a handbag, with a little bird I bought while we were visiting friends in Newcastle. I did not know which bird was on the bag, but was drawn to it.


She immediately asked if I knew what bird it was. When she found out that I did not know she was very proud to tell me that it is a blue wren and that they have just spotted some of them as you take this small wooden path towards the river (we did not even know that there was a river behind the ablution facilities). She encouraged us to go and have a look.


Off we went and there they were – exactly where the lady said we would find them. Two things happened that day: I got to know that the bird on my handbag was a blue wren and I got to see the bird in real life. A pit stop turned into an unforgettable experience.


Our lives are full of potential blue wren moments. But why do we miss them so often? Mainly because we are so scared to expose ourselves, show who we really are. We are not prepared to wear the handbags revealing our true identity. The result – people walk past us, not knowing who we really are. The moment we expose our true character we are vulnerable, but with that risk comes the adventure of turning ordinary moments into moments of exploration, moments where we get to know ourselves so much better and at the same time gather unforgettable memories.


Find the blue wrens in your life. Display them, you will be surprised at the possibilities of what could happen…