I love to swim and at least twice a week I engage in the soothing and rhythmical ritual of following the black line for 20 or more laps at my local, public swimming pool. A few weeks ago I shared the pool with a Seniors Aquarobics class. Whilst I swam laps a large group of older women bobbed up and down in the water beside my lane, exercising to music. By the time I had …
The humid air licked at my fringe as I waited beneath the bell tower on the grass of a wine farm in Cape Town, my beloved home town. The air played with the rope that hung from the brass bell and as I looked up, I noticed a plaque to the left of where I stood. It was just a normal day out for me, acting like a tourist in my own city. Yet this …
Some people have their whole life mapped out in front of them with goals and vision statements and five-year plans, but I am not one of those people. I grew up in a home that was defined by change, turmoil and instability. From as early as I can remember, my only real dream was to have what looked like a ‘normal’ life and keep the peace. My parent’s relationship was always tumultuous and, by the …
When I met him my chest cracked open and I gave my everything to him; the beauty and the mess all came crashing in a pile at his feet. We exchanged our vows – our brokenness, our beauty, and the terrible lies that stowed away in our hearts. Instead of opening my wings and taking him in, I spoke with a poison-tongue, throwing bricks, building a mighty wall. He threw bricks of his own. We …
Two years into our marriage I fell pregnant. My husband Robbert and I were a little shocked because I was still finishing up my university degree and we didn’t ‘plan’ for a pregnancy. But within days we got really excited about the idea of having a baby together. We started to dream about what he or she would look like, what we would be like as parents and started to think of names. I could …
