A photo I love of my parents (and miss-home-Mondays)

Candid photos are the best, aren't they?

While a beautifully constructed and well thought-out photo can be visually exquisite, it's not really an authentic capture of a true moment in life unless it is unplanned and freed from the boundaries of the artist's imagination.

This, to me, is where most of the elegance in photographs comes from.

This photo of my parents was taken at a party - my mum hugs my dad and notices the photographer snapping, while their long-haired lady friend looks on (with a poster for the late 60's musical 'Hair' in the background).

I look at this photo and think it could so easily be me, holding a glass of wine and carelessly throwing an affectionate arm around my boyfriend.

I'm also in a bit of a nostalgic mood today, but then, that's hardly news as I'm a very nostalgic person.

Monday's are usually my somber, reflective days, where the excitement and promise of the weekend is over and it's back to my thoughts to fill in the quiet of space.

Usually on Mondays these thoughts involve a degree of homesickness; for my parents, for my parent's new partners, for my sister, my extended family, my friends, for my old job, for familiarly, summery beaches, cafes, and the intimacy of home.

Everything is so different here... there is so much to get used to, so many baby steps towards accepting the changes that have taken place. A new working life, a new home, new furniture, new friends, new culture, new expectations, a new relationship dynamic - and of course - a puppy to chase after.

Life is good - but Monday's are usually the "grass is always greener" days that creep in when living abroad.

Of course living away from home really is all it promises to be: a fantastic, inspired and permanent holiday, doused in the fresh air of freedom.

But even on holidays there are days where you miss home.

For me, that is mostly Mondays.

I shall christen them "miss-home-Mondays". :)