c'est la vie

My Beci got a RDP house several years back.  A house she has cherished and taken care of, improved where she could and cried over when the hail broke her windows recently.  As a single parent with an unemployed son (an unemployed son note, not one incapable of working, simple unwilling to find aforementioned work), she turns every cent over twice.  Beci is a master at fashion.  She knows every vendor in every corner of Marabastad.  She has every contact for every thing she likes.  She outdresses me by far and her colour co-ordinated very joosh look has everyone double-taking as she walks from the bus stop to our house.  I always tease her about it.  Like every South African she simply wants to live in peace.  Be treated fairly.  Have a government who cares for her.  Now if you want to get her revved up, then you must talk politics.  Her feelings are quite clear about who she likes and who not.  And as she does not suff...

So one of my overseas friends who reads my blog asked me how the gym thing is going. I am happy to say it is still going.  I actually have regular swipes at the entrance turnstile after which I actually go into the gym and not around the turnstile and out again having satisfied Discovery Vitality and their long-suffering emails about my insufficient attendance (what is this .... rollcall?). I am now able to even put the treadmill on an incline setting without going into cardiac arrest and am working up quite a pace.  The first time I walked at this pace, 5 weeks ago, it was so unexpected that I shot backwards and had to run to get back to the front again, a bit like a comedy video clip. I even manage to go around the circuit, and end breathing normally.  I no longer have the pin on the very first weight and that impresses me no end :)  Very soon I will have to start jumping up and down that step thing inbetween each machine on the circuit but it is still too ea...

As we give sporting goods so shall we NOT need to receive.  A number of years ago when wanting to acquire new kit for a sports team, I was told by the "powers that be" that they would fund half if I raised half.  They thought this would get rid of me and my request.  Wrong.  I went out hard and fast and raised more than half the funds needed.  That left the other party with no choice but to match my funds, and new kit we got.  This spurred me immediately afterwards to think about how fortunate our kids are when it comes to sporting kit.  Yes there are many that play in very good condition hand me downs from family and friends, but there are more than that who receive new kit regularly.  Hockey, Swimming, Cricket, Football, Netball ..... the list is endless.  Soccer, Football .... call it what you may .... it is played everywhere (which is why I battle to comprehend why we cannot have decent multiracial development teams and a national ...

Dreams can come true if you can decide what it is that you want in life.  Look at yourself and work out who you are.  Be honest, mostly with yourself.  Work out what makes you smile, what is special to you, what you excel at.  And do it.  Sometimes you will get it wrong.  That is ok.  When things are not going right, just keep moving forward.  Dig deep inside for courage.  Try out new things and make sure you adjust your thinking regularly enough to do things that make you grow spiritually and emotionally.  Be ethical.  Guard your morals.  Laugh.  Laugh some more.  Surround yourself with people who respect you.  Acknowledge you.  Thank you.  Miss you.  Treat people in a way you want them to reciprocate.  Be truthful.  With yourself.  With others.  Don't have your moat up so high that you cannot love others, or allow them to love you. Some people will eventual...

A journey no one else will travel and no one else can judge - a path of happiness and hurt, where the challenges are great and the rewards even greater.  You are on a journey where each experience will teach you something valuable, and you cannot get lost, for you already know the way by heart.  You are on a journey that is universal yet uniquely personal, and profound yet astonishingly simple - where sometimes you will stumble and other times you will soar.  You will learn that even at your darkest point, you can find a light - if you look for it.  At the most difficult crossroads, you will have an answer - if you listen for it.  Friends and family will accompany you part of the way, and you will walk the rest by yourself .... but you will never be alone.   Travel at your own pace.  There will be time enough to learn all you need to know and go as far as you are meant to go.  Travel light.  Letting go of extra baggage will keep your ar...

Look deeper at everyone you come into contact with today, that you actually know. Not just casual passerby's or people you speak to briefly.  People you believe you actually know.  Do you?  We actually have no idea what goes on in other people's lives.  We judge simply by the outside, what we know of them, what we see of them.  But sometimes behind that mask, that facade, that person we think we know, lies a whole lot of stuff we don't know.  Hardships, secrets, personal stuff.  And sometimes unexpectedly we get to learn about the stuff behind the mask.  And that is where true friendship comes in. Because if someone learns all about you, and it does not change your friendship one iota, well I pretty much think that tells me something about loyalty and the strength of that friendship.  And the people you think will be most understanding about what they learn about you .....the ones you give all your attention to, often aren't.  Often it...

Where is your quiet space in life?  Do you even have one?  Or is your life just a barrage of work, driving, questions, money issues, to-do-lists, schedules and running on a please everyone treadmill? I have a quiet space .... sometimes the only hour in my entire week.  I spend it in my church, in the Adoration Chapel.  In silence.  Praying or simply just sitting.  And listening.  To God.  My priest says I have to listen.  And wait.   I am better with Listen than I am with Wait.  I am pretty much the "go-to" person in my life.  As if I have this library of useful and useless facts just swirling around my brain waiting to be dispensed ...... but sometimes my battery runs flat.  I wish I had a jumpstart machine for myself, much like for a car.  I find myself in a "please just stop and give me a hug" week this week.  But very often we don't have time to stop and notice when usually "out there" busy people are in...

Just found out that I did not win the R8-million Lotto draw on Saturday night.  In fact after triple checking my ticket I can confirm that I did also not win the 5 & bonus ball prize of R213 000 or even the 3 number prize of R2.75 This upset me for a number of reasons: The saga of the cricket bat.  My taller child, he of the First XI cricket team, hits the ball when batting in what can only be described as "moer" hard.  Hence even his very good quality bat eventually, after one year, simply cracked in half and folded in two ..... I cannot anymore, it declared.  And this bat was loving oiled regularly and hit in for hours before first use.  So that meant that a bat had to be procurred, hit in and oiled asap for this week's matches.  To deal with this "moer" hard batting, he has to have a fairly thick bat.  They do not come cheap.  He is talented, so we close eyes and pay.  But the Lotto draw could have also been more co-operative....