Riverland Playlist on YouTube
I wasn’t the first one in my family to visit Riverland. The first one was Uncle Tim. He was five when he went. I wasn’t around when he was five. I was invisible. My mother says that nowadays, I’m very visible. That’s because I’m seven and a half. Seven and a half is much older than seven. Halves matter a lot when you’ve only been visible for a short amount of halves. I guess halves don’t matter much when you have been around as long as Nannie.
Uncle Tim went to Riverland because of his dog, Bella Number 2, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, which is a rather grand name for a roly-poly, snorty-porty, smoochy-pouchy sort of dog.
Lie flat on your back with your arms and legs stretched out. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath into your stomach—in and then out. Take another breath in. Slowly breathe out. Feel your body relaxing into the bed. One more deep breath in. This time when you breathe out, completely relax as if your body is sinking into the middle of your mattress.
What about me? When did I go to Riverland? I was five, and a dog was also involved. You guessed it—a Cavalier. Nannie says for her, all the Cavaliers roll into one jolly, round, fluff-ball of smilingness.
I’m sorry that the next part of the story is sad but don’t worry. Sometimes, the very happiest things come from the very saddest things.
GOODWOOD
At nine, you know a lot of things. You know more than your parents think you know. You know a lot, but you don’t know so much that you have forgotten everything you knew before you came here. Nannie tells me not to forget what I knew before here. She also says not to worry if I do because I’ll get it back again later. So far, so good. I have not forgotten Riverland, and it has not forgotten me.
