Well it's Thursday morning, I think, although I'm not entirely sure I know what day it is, where I am, or why Ethan's cries are still ringing in my head from yesterday. All I do know at this point is, I'm at work staring at my computer in a half daze wondering what it is I need to do next. Now...what was I doing? Oh yeah!
The trip was fantastic. Going home is always such a wonderful thing for me, it reminds me of who I am and where I came from and how lucky I am to have the things I have. We drove through some truly depressing parts where you can't even imagine people live. It always humbles me. I go back and have to set my clock to South African time, which means everything takes forever, the food, the driving, and the washing to dry on the line. The thing with this is, I have noticed that on African time I seem less stressed, less rushed and less angry. It feels as though there is more time in the day and not so much pressure to cram a busy day into 10 hours. The kids played and laughed and had fun, Skylar didn't miss TV, she loved the beach and playing outside, and she swam and laughed and glowed. Ethan learnt to pull himself up on everything and how to get dirty. He smiles and waves bye-bye to everyone; he got so much attention and love he was exploding with happiness. We took time to be a family, to relax and to have a little fun. It doesn't get much better than that.
On our trip we did have some hiccups, Skylar choked on some meat and I had to give her the Heimlich, Ethan held his breath till he passed out while I frantically ran around the restaurant hysterical, there are many other crazy instances of danger and living on the edge, almost too many to list, but we made it. Skylar learnt that in the vast expanses of African bush that the need for a potty break simply means pull off the road and go, she loved the idea and it's as if she waited to have to go until we were surrounded by miles of nothing just so she could experience the freedom of bush-peeing. And then on one occasion on a drive through the game park she was laughing so hard she peed her pants and continued to laugh even harder. I think laughing that hard pardons any potty accident, I wish we all laughed so hard we pee our pants. It's good for the heart!
On this trip, we have built relationships, renewed old friendships, fallen in love and learnt that nothing should ever be taken for granted.
Things that I learnt to not take for granted:
Electricity (due to load shedding)
Hot water (see above)
Pot-hole free roads
That someone won't overtake on a blind rise and potentially kill you as you approach
Food to arrive within an hour of ordering it
There are a few more things I could add to my list, but it seems unfair, as if I'm complaining. I'm not, I love Africa, it's my home.
I have many more tales from darkest Africa to share, however at this time I find myself staring blankly at my screen again. I wish the screams of my overtired, exhausted child will stop in my head. Did I mention that he cried all the way from JFK to Denver, no nipple in the world could pacify him. The lady in front of us was clearly not a "baby person" and her hatred was felt with every nasty stare and huff and puff. I wanted to speak, I wanted to ask her if she had a problem with my screaming child, I wanted to scold her for being so insensitive, but my efforts would have been lost on her. I'm not sure we'll be friends, but I do hope that she still has my child’s screams in her head today too. Ahh yes, how does that slogan go..."fly the friendly skies", this does not apply to you my dear friend in seat 8F. May the screams of my child and the whining of my daughter forever be with you.
No comments:
Post a Comment