Chapter 1, I've always wanted to do this...

Blogging..I'm blogging.. no, I'm typing at a laptop in my kitchen while watching my daughter laugh at me from a far... has life become this technological? I guess so...

So I guess i had better start with an introduction for all those reading this that don't know me. (Do i do this formally??) I was born in Cape Town at Groote Schuur Hospital, like you care, right? Been through so much in my short life I truly do not even know where to start.. How bout with the present? I live in Washington State with my second husband and 3 kids... See even that sounds complicated, Ok, so how about with the past, my first husband left me, moved to Dubai and I have custody of our 2 kids whom we had prior to getting married. He is now re-married to a lovely Egyptian woman, he's Dutch btw... and I have a third child from my second husband who is American and I am South African, mmm, such an International family we are!

So seriously, I grew up in a lil town in Cape Town, South Africa called Kalk Bay, thats a pic there. Where the mountains meet the sea and the only things separating them is the two-laned main road and the railroad tracks. Beauty is a word that barely describes it. The youngest of 8 kids with an age gap of 17years between the eldest and myself, life was always interesting and still is. My father was a District city librarian and my mother a school teacher. Dad was always involved in some sort of charity work and mom was always feeding some poor beggar at the door or handing our old hand-me-down clothes further down the line to some needy family who was destitute on our doorstep. Many a person found shelter on our front stoop or in the "hokkie" (shed) in our back yard. The winters in Kalk Bay were fun!

The house has been in the family for decades and so would go through the trials and tests by the forces of nature, like in a bible story. The roof being made of corrugated iron sheets was always either blowing apart or sprouting leaks! We came up with many creative ways of catching water! Then there was the flooding, the house is built on a freshwater mountain spring,or so we think, so during the rainy seasons we were always lifting carpets and scooping water as the spring decided to come inside and say hello. Again creative methods of getting the unwelcomed visitor out were used, we cut milk bottles open to use as scoops, lay newspapers down to soak it up, swept it out the front door even! And still every year it was back like a pesky relative from out of town!

On that subject, every year, come summer time, the incredible beach days, boat days, surfing days brought an influx of tourists to our lil town. It also brought many international visitors from every side of our family. Dad, was from a large family as was Mom, so some distant or close relative was always in town.

As the years progressed before I even hit my teens my brothers and sisters were getting married and making me an Aunt. I was well skilled in diaper duty and putting a fussy infant to sleep before I was 10. I attended the local Catholic School and life was good. Something I learnt in later life was that I was exposed to life events like weddings and funerals etc.. yearly if not more, something my peers at school and college had not been. I think this prepared me greatly for so many things in life, I have met many people who have only been to one or two of these kinds of events in their lifetimes and the differences are huge.

When junior school came to an end at grade 7, I was sent to an all girls private school, where my sisters had all gone before me, and what big shoes they left for me to fill... but fill I did, in my own way! Not being much of an academic by choice, a lazy student I was unless driven by passion. I achieved average grades for the most part. I repeated grade 7 or achieved a 2 year diploma in the grade as I like to see it. Grade 8 was an incredible year, new friendships were created that would last me many years. I joined the SRC and was elected 3 years running, I was a member of many groups and societies and even sang in the choir for 3years. Boys were fun but I wasn't the commited type so long term relationships were few. By the end of Grade 11, I met the what I thought was the love of my life, we had a scandalous relationship that turned many heads and got disapproval from many sides, I was a convent girl, I was supposed to concentrate on my studies and become a learned woman of the world, well by the first term of 12th grade I was pregnant and the scandal was huge!

By May, someone told the principal I was pregnant, and whomever it was I should thank, as I did not have a plan and had not told my parents even though I was 5 months pregnant and showing. My principal arranged a trip to her doctor. She then told me either I tell my folks or she would and she would do everything within her power to ensure I complete my schooling. ( A principle in an all girls Catholic school is a very powerful being!) My parents took it as well as could be expected, every child is a blessing no matter how concieved, and through much love and support, I continued attending school right up until the second last day in full school uniform! (I had a skirt that covered my bump entirly so I just looked like a fat kid lol) On the last day of school I went into labor and had my 3.3kg baby girl with my bf and mother at my side and my sister and sister-in-law outside the labour room door, cringing at my screams! My class had thrown me a baby shower and I was well kitted out with every concievable baby item! The visitors and gifts we recieved that day and the weeks to come made me feel so loved and blessed! Four weeks later I was back at school to write my final exams and by the end of the year I was working in the retail field for a gap year while I decided what to study. Through all this my parents were my strength, it makes me so sad now that we are so far apart when we were always so close. i could have ended up a drop out and living off grants, but we were always taught that we had potential to be the best of whatever we wanted to be! To always think of others and always have a plan B!