Year of the menagerie

I have loved Christmas forever. I reckon I'll be 100 and still, on Christmas morning, I'll be awake with the birds. I like it.

This year has been relaxing, chilled, busy, loving and full of good family, laughter and road trips of fun and success. And there is no reason why, as we go into a new year, anything should change.
I don't do resolutions. But I want to carry on as it is....laughing, road trips, happiness and success. Yeah, I know there are hoopleheads out there, that will thwart our map and attempt to derail our road ahead, but I believe in the things on the horizon. The destination we are planning.

Bring. It. All. On.

GM

When I was a little girl, over the Christmas holidays, I used to spend one week with my Granny and then one week with my nana and papa. My parents worked and holiday clubs didn't exist for everyone as they do now. I had a cassette recorder that went everywhere with me and a few tapes that I had liberated or been gifted. One of them was Wham! Make it big. I became obsessed with them and George Michael. So this is my memory. Christmas holidays. Having driven my granny mad with the tape I transferred it onto my nana and papa. I remember no one telling me to turn it off. Just a rolling of eyes as they heard the songs over and over again. I recall lying in my bed falling asleep to the sounds of Like A Baby, my grandparents taking to each other.

It never really went away, George Michael reminding me of super happy times, where it seemed the sun was always shining and my family were always there. My grandparents got divorced not long after that summer and I grew up. So it was never really the same.

George Michael....so much soundtrack to my life.

Saying Goodbye

There's a very sad feeling in my heart. The knowledge that I'll never see my LM again. I sat in the car when I heard the news and I failed to process it properly.
Normally, we don't get the chance to say goodbye. Normally, we don't know when Death will come with his calling card. In this case, I won't be able to say goodbye, because I am so very far away but I wouldn't know what to say if I was closer.
Because that's it, we don't prepare for moments like this. We figure life goes on forever, EVEN when we get sporadic wake up calls that it doesn't.
I know she doesn't know what's happening, but if I had the chance, I'd say thank you. Thank you for being there from when I was 12. For your warmth, your love and your inspiration. You were the only single mother I really knew. And you did the most amazing job of raising the most beautiful spirited woman. And when that came to be my role, I knew I could do it, as I had you as my role model. I knew everything would be okay. And 4 years ago, when you were going through the most traumatic time of your life, you held me and gave me comfort. You thought of my loss as well as the bone crushing loss of your own. You never made me feel that my loss was any less than your own. 3 years ago, you held me in that car park in Somerset West and let me sob so hard. I hope I gave you strength back when you needed it. I wish I had been closer in distance.
You are and will always be, my second mother. I know people throw the phrase around. But you always have been  my 'other mommy'. When we had broken hearts in our teenage years, you let me and Nhandi cuddle up with you in your big bed, made us hot chocolate and told us one day our princes would come. You sat with me when I went through a window, hands first, and picked out every single shard of glass with a pair of tweezers, bandaged me up JUST like my mom would have done. I love you so much and I want you to be free but I'm going to miss you so much. Miss you forever. One thing I will always take with me was your ability to get up after EVERY fall you had. No matter what crap was flung your way, you were positive that it would always get better.
My love for always
Your AD

Importance

This morning a school friend passed away. After a battle with cancer, which he fought so hard to overcome. And it brings it home as these things do, how things change so quickly. And also what's important. We should know all the time but we forget.
We shouldn't sweat the small things, it should always be about the bigger picture. What's in front is paramount. And what you don't know won't hurt you.

Ouch

Gosh, well hasn’t 4 years gone quickly? Of course it has. Time speeds up with every year. This is not a new thing. 

I can’t count the number of times, I go to tell Nhandi something and then shudder as I realise I can’t. I think of all the amazing things she’s missed out on and it becomes a dull ache inside. So much I wish she was here for. 

Things I have learnt over the past 4 years. I can cry without a tear falling, heartache is an actual thing and the pain from it can cause real illness. This grief has no doubt prepared me for grieving to come. And it changes you, things that got me upset beforehand, no longer seem as significant. I know I have the strength to get up and fight another day. However, I no longer feel bad for having good times – that used to happen a lot. I’d catch myself smiling, enjoying life and then whoosh! I’d get a guilt trip. Now I don’t. Now I enjoy every bit of life I can. 

It seems like a big fat cheesy meme, but I do now make sure all those who are important to me, know it. And I surround myself with those people – and people I like. 

But I’m also scared, I’m scared of losing anyone else. I wonder if that will be the straw that breaks me in two. 

You know, I miss our Skype chats… us talking over each other. That and whatsapp was our way of connecting – the distance being too much for regular hugs. I think the knowledge that I’ll never get another bone crushing hug that lasted forever, is what hurts currently. Do I remember the last hug I got? For sure. Outside Carol’s house. 

It would have been her wedding anniversary on Monday. No one mentioned it. I wonder if I was the only one who realised. Her husband is married to another now but I still remember the date. She was radiant that day… all pink and glittery. Sparkling from head to toe. 

I wrote the above a few days ago and It wasn't until today, that I realised something. I push the tears away. Today, I was in the kitchen, listening to music and the next thing I knew I was bent over sobbing like I haven't done in a while. My chest hurt, my eyes were burning and my cheeks wet. Her son is 4 today. She's never had a birthday with him. The anger came. I kicked a cupboard door (twice)    I hurt today, like I haven't hurt in months. I want to break something with as much force as I have in me. I want to lie on my bed and sob because I miss my girl so much. When I left Cape Town to live in PE, Nhandi and Mouse came to say goodbye....we were sobbing like only teenage girls can. Like the bottom of the world had dropped out. Every time she left PE after a holiday, we cried like that. My dad was always the one who had to take one of us away. Did our souls know we didn't have forever? That each goodbye was nearly the last one. The last one....I was a mother, an adult and still we cried saying goodbye. Today I cried like that. Am I saying goodbye again?

I must finish off with a happy memory, or risk being sad all day. So here's one.....the waiter that served us Don Pedro's when we were underage and acted like we weren't. He kept falling over. We laughed like hyenas. We then crashed a party. We were so "cool" (rop). Or so we thought. Until we realised Nhandis dad was there. Mortified. One good night of many.

 

elephants

So there are elephants in my stomach. Once again, doing a backflip and many cartwheels.
I'm sure there's no real reason to it but when you want something so much, yet are conflicted by it, the elephants come out.

I've pushed myself out of my comfort zone so much this year. I've challenged myself and found myself winning. Makes me a little - no a lot - angry with myself that determination, drive and achieving has hit me a little late. Where was this when I was a teenager? Or maybe it's because I'm not a teenager.... hmmm that age old question of are you doing this because of x or because of y? Or would Y happen only because X did? Maybe I had nothing to be challenged about back then?

Had a few conversations lately about what you would change if you'd live your life over. Now people say, oh I'd have taken school seriously - and other typical answers. But me, no I wouldn't. Mine are more to do with the soul/heart and less of the mind. I'd stay away from certain people. People, who I can now see, had absolutely no input into my future/life. You know, the soul sucking people. The hangers on, the people who have no bearing. I'd instead surround myself with the people who ended up truly mattering. I always come back to that June/July holiday with Nhandi. I still feel the most regret about those two weeks. And I absolutely know, she never saw it like that. But I did.

Back to my comfort zone... I've pushed quite hard this year. It's been such a whirlwind - so busy but so rewarding. I'm hoping that streak of good fortune continues. Maybe karma is coming to roost. Because I've been a good girl.....

time

It's technology, I'm far too involved with it. I think I'm not, I think 'oh ja, I could survive on a deserted island'. For shore.... as long as there was wifi. And a device. And apps that work. And maybe  my coffee machine. I'd like to think I could do without my curling tongs, and I believe that I could. I did Thailand without them. Oh I took them along for the journey, but they tripped wires, fuses and switches every time I put them on, so I went alá frizz. But the wifi... that would have to come along.

I have been most put out that my blogger app is on the fritz. It crashes, it lets me type two sentences and then poof, it is gone! And I've not always had the app so clearly I can live without it - I mean look at me here, typing away on a desktop. And that's the nutshell with our tech and love for it. The more we get, the more we want it to work and work well, and work fast. When it doesn't, we bemoan the ability to do stuff - but we've done 'stuff' before, and we did it perfectly adequately.

I will try to download my app again, it was easy to use on the go (such as cashino trips which aren't on here now etc) but actually I type better and faster and longer on a keyboard. Again, it's time, time is essentially what we all want more of. So by wanting our apps and stuff to go faster - we think we are gaining a minute here and there.