4 April. I woke to a glorious sunrise, coffee on the patio overlooking the vlaktes, with only the turtle doves for company. I knew it was going to be a good day. This afternoon I got my all over body PET scan results. My final results. I was told I am well, very very well. I loved and am grateful for the look of joy on my oncologist’s face. Roll on 5 years.
3 April. Today was a beautiful day. I am grateful for too many wonderful moments, from sleepy eyed tousle haired cousins at 6am, to a giraffe with eyelashes I envy, to Rick teaching Kate at 14 to drive the landy, to nearly not being able to have wine on our sunset game drive, to an off road adventure to rocky outcroppings with the most spectacular views, to Lynn and and I beyond ourselves at Rick showing his age. To all of us being together. A truly golden day.
2 April. Today I am grateful for Serapa. Not only because it is the most wonderful gift my uncle has given us all, access to this wonderful place of his, but because it is part of us all. It is our history. Serapa and the yellow landy have meant so much to my brother, sister and I and continues to. From before our partners and before our children. Being here has helped us through career upheavals, pregnancies, illness, life. Being here has welcomed engagements, new family members, new life. And has cemented all our relationships over lots of red wine, stunning game drives, treacherous mountain bike rides, peaceful bush walks and braais made to perfection. I am very very grateful to be here right now, because right now it is the place here I have the most history with.
Today we spent a gentle morning with my dad’s sisters and their husbands. I know times have been very tough for them all and was so very grateful to see them all well and settled in their new homes. I was especially grateful to witness the love and concern they have for my dad. And he for them. No matter the years past, the different lives spent, the different journeys travelled, family is family. And for that I am grateful. I am especially grateful for the the reminder from the stray cat who made us all smile as he enjoyed the sun and the garden today. The reminder that there is always something to smile about. Always.
Today I am grateful for a career in advertising. Not for what I learnt or for what I wish I hadn’t learnt but for the wonderful friendships I made. Friendships that transcend time, life stages, careers and distance. Friendships that are as strong when we meet once every year as they were when we met every single day. Today I am grateful for being so blessed to have such varied, interesting, independent, kind, funny, irreverent women as my friends. Women who continue to astound me with all that they are. And more importantly, inspire me to be so much more.
As I sat in the traffic today, having left home at 6.45 am in order to be at the clinic for my PET scan at 8 am (over an hour to travel less than 10kms), I thought I am so grateful this is no longer my reality. But then Darren Simpson aka Whackhead of 94.7 (yes, I am a 94.7 fan and am old enough not to care to admit it) shared a prank call which had me in hysterics. And all the commuters around me. On we all continued in the traffic but now smiling. Then I spotted this wonderful character juggling in the road, full of smiles and laughs for a rand or two. So, today I am grateful for being able to see and enjoy the beautiful moments whilst doing the mundane. And for the wonderful energy that is africa.
I met a lovely lovely lady today. Bridget. She did my wax at Life Day Spa. I am grateful for the feeling of pure indulgence of simply being there, but the wonderful gift of the time with this unique presence was completely unexpected. She has had personal experience with HIV and much tragedy in her family. At 26 she has lived through a lifetime of tough and harsh experiences, yet her energy is light and free and fun. She is kind and so very very wise. We talked nonstop. I felt so much, but I also gratefully, never felt a thing.
Today was a big day. We sold our house over a year ago, yet we have continued to receive bills for water and lights, rates and taxes. Despite our best efforts and those of our conveyancing attorneys. Today I spent the morning at the Johannesburg municipal offices. I wish I could say I was grateful for the petty bureaucrats I had the misfortune to deal with. I wish I could say I was grateful for the wonderful attitude of what can we do to help I was met with. But I can’t. But I am grateful for the lady before me. She understandably let her frustration get the better of her. Grateful because I saw the effect it had. Grateful because that used to be me. The futility of it all. So today I am grateful I was able to calmly communicate my intention not to go anywhere until I had received some form of resolution. Which I did.
Lynn and I can chat and chat and chat. And chat. Over numerous glasses of wine and numerous cups of coffee. We can laugh, we can cry, we can advise, we can tease, we can lecture, we can listen. Nothing ever gets in the way, not even jet lag or a stiff neck or much needed sleep. I am very blessed and extremely grateful to have a sister-in-law who is always there, who truly gets me, who is so much like me, who cares enough to disagree with me, who cares enough to know what is needed, who is a friend but so much more. Today and always, I am grateful for Lynn, my other sister.
Today I am overflowing with gratitude. I am so grateful for my family, for every single one of them, those here and those not, for every little moment today and last night, for the roses, for the chocolates, for the steers ribs, for the laughs, for the hugs, for the fruit chutney niknaks, for the non stop chatter, for the coffee, for the rusks, for the care, for the time, for the ‘anything can be said at this table’ dinner conversation, for the love we all share. Just for being here.
grace and dignity 