Possibilities

The week ahead is a big one; so much is riding on it...

My wedding anniversary has snuck up on us again. This week marks the end of a wonderful 14 year walk through life, with my wife at my side. Also in her arms, and sometimes being dragged by my hair! Seriously, it has been an amazing adventure, and not one where I look back with longing and regret. Instead, I am sure in the knowledge of how blessed I am to walk these unknown paths of life together with Donna. I have absolutely desire to be young again, or richer than I am, instead am so happy and thankful for rich experiences and people who have coloured my existence.

Awestruck goes live this week! A project which has sucked up time over the last year. So much debate, planning, thinking, modelling, improved planning, agreements, and conversations, have been woven into this period. It has all come together in a fantastic web site which aims to create an on line Catholic community to inspire Catholics to act with love. It is ambitious, creative, out there, demanding, and if it works, highly fulfilling. It is hard to explain how important this launch is to me. A year of my time invested, and it all comes down to this week.

To make the week more exciting, I need to prepare for four training courses I have scheduled over the next three weeks. The course is titled Commercial Competence for Managers. Despite the dry nature of finance, we are going to have some fun, but in order to make the fun happen, I need to be oh so highly prepared. It is going to be tight to find enough time...

In between presenting my course to myself and my imaginary posse, I will be finalising the sale and movement of the two old ladies I sold last week. For anyone concerned, I am referring to two battered old Jaguars, who have found better owners. There is hope another old Jaguar of mine, currently undergoing a makeover, will hit the road running this week. Although, truth be told, I have been hopeful of this for the last 8 months.

So much to look forward to, I can barely wait. And did I mention there is some swell this week, so I may have to sneak off for a wave or two as well...

I like weeks filled to the brim with possibilities!

The Ugly Ducklings Spread their Wings

It is amazing how when the timing is right, things just fall into place.

My dad loved old cars, so it probably all his fault. One day when visiting him in Cape Town, in the days when I used to live far away in Johannesburg, we passed a car rental lot on the way to his place. In the lot was an old Jaguar from the fifties. It was beautiful, stately, black, and elegant. It had been completely refurbished, and now sported new leather, gleaming wood finishes, electric windows, and air conditioning. Certainly not something a purist would appreciate but it made an impression on me. The car had been sold to a buyer in the UK for the then princely sum of 10,000 pounds.

That day, was the beginning of the end for me. I started to believe I could drive around in a beautiful old car and it would be wonderful. A young man’s dream with no possible hope for success! 

The thing about dreams, is that if you want them badly enough, they can come true.

My dream went seriously awry when I got stuck into the refurbishment of a 1956 Ford pickup truck. Hardly a classic beauty, more pure American muscle. If you have seen the movie, ‘The Expendables’, then you will have have seen Stallone driving a copy of my truck, except mine has far less bullet holes and road rage damage.

About a year ago, I saw a Jaguar I fancied from the sixties. It was parked at a garage I had just started to use for my truck. I asked the garage owner about it and he told me the owner was interested in selling. I started to day dream. The emigrating owner would only sell this beautiful jaguar together with two other sixties Jaguars he had. A package deal, beauty and the two ugly ducklings! After not agonising too long over the decision, I bought all three of them.

The beautiful one is still in the garage, but that is another long story. Any day now, and she will spread her wings...

As for the rusting hulks, they have lived in the open for the last year. I have on occasion kicked their tyres to make them feel loved. They were parked at the back of my mind too, well out of conscious thought.  I knew I would have to deal with them one day.

Then last week, I responded to an advert on Gumtree where somebody was looking for old Jaguar project cars. Lo and behold after some negotiation, the advertiser agreed to buy the worst of the two cars, in order to break it down for spares. Being inspired I posted an advert on Gumtree for the other one. The amount of calls I received for this stationary 45 year old car has been staggering. Yesterday it was sold!

This week, I hope to have them removed from the garage to their new owners. And of course to collect some bonanza cash! Now was just the right time. I would never have believed I could sell these two derelict cars in the space of a week. I am thoroughly amazed though, by the peace of mind the sales have brought me. Obviously these old ladies have been occupying some valuable brain space. With them moving on, I can find something more important to park up there!

Right now my dream is still alive, and you can be sure Donna is very happy to see the car count reduce by two!

My boys and I

Our trip to Bloemfontein was not all negative. Matt and Luke said they had an awesome time. Obviously they lived that week on a different planet to the one Donna, Isabella, and I were on!

Donna and I also found out how far we would push ourselves as parents to support our children. Donna spending three nights in that room, amidst the hospital chaos was a huge sacrifice. Yet when her daughter asked, she did not hesitate to plonk her butt in that uncomfortable chair and aeroplane nap. I would hope most parents would chose to do the same; put the needs of their children well above their own needs.

On the occasions when I inhabited the same universe as my boys, we got to spend some special time together.

Bloemfontein is home to a massive military base called Tempe. Tempe is really a big suburb subdivided into the various military divisions. We explored the base stopping at the parabat and armour museums.  The parabat museum was closed, yet somebody kindly found the key and then proceeded to give us a personal tour. I made sure to take a photograph of Luke smiling under a sign which said; ‘a mind is like a parachute, it only works when it is open!’ The armour division was boy heaven! Imagine streets and streets lined with old tanks. We browsed for ages and eventually found the appropriate Sherman for our garage. Unfortunately the army killjoys would not let us take it home.

Another shared dimension saw us touring the local city zoo. I had not been to a zoo since I was a child. And zoos have not changed much since then. Lazy, fat animals in cages too small for them! Still not my favourite place, especially when we are so used to seeing animals in their natural habitat. My boys were fascinated regardless.

The highlight was on the long and boring trip home. Whilst listening to the radio we heard that a convoy of Ferrari's had been spotted on the same highway we were on. The announcer later read out an update that the Ferrari's had turned off and parked at the casino in a town along the road. As luck would have it, we found ourselves at the same town just 20 minutes later. Fired up on spontaneity, we stopped and drooled over the 43 incredible beasts parked there. We left on a high, the journey long forgotten! Luke sent an SMS to the radio station thanking them for the tip, and you can imagine his excitement when it was read on air.

I have two wonderful sons. Time together is to be treasured, regardless of the circumstance

A Sick Child

Last week was the longest month of my life.

It started with a little broken nose, which probably turned out to be one of the highlights!

Being a parent involves many things but this last week provided a first class lesson in anguish! I have heard it said there can be nothing worse than watching your sick child suffer. Helplessness and inadequacy mounting moment by moment, not an experience for the feint hearted!

We took a little 12 hour trip to Bloemfontein so that the boys could compete in the SA Schools Judo tournament. We planned it well, leaving at 02h00 in the morning and getting halfway in the darkness whilst the family slept. The rest of the trip was surprisingly easy and we arrived in Bloemfontein in high spirits.

The boys weighed in at the Tempe military base where the competition was to be held. The place was dirty and completely disorganised. We should have known then. It tool hours for the boys to be weighed in, which in itself takes mere seconds.

The competition started off well the next day with Matt winning two of his fights, one with an amazing throw. He ended up second, not bad for his first national competition at the age of 7. Luke entered this competition in a higher weight category and what a competitive category that turned out to be. He fought hard and came fourth. He was highly disappointed but these were good lessons to learn. All in all a long and exhausting day!

That evening, with no warning whatsoever, Isabella started to vomit. Then she repeated the process every couple of minutes without fail. Nothing helped, which is why we found ourselves at a hospital in Bloemfontein.  She was later admitted in the wee hours of the morning, utterly exhausted and still vomiting. Nothing can prepare one for the moments in life when your child is sick and in pain, and looking at you with those big ‘help me’ eyes. And you can’t!

Donna got to snag the chair next to the bed and bunk down with our daughter for the next three nights. Isabella continued to vomit for much of that time, and became hysterical when her mother was not within reach. A difficult time for my wife, as she too was confined to the hospital room, and all the joys that accompany such an opportunity. It turned out Isabella had picked up the Rota virus, and there was nothing we could do but wait it out. I got to share my time between the hospital and the boys. Luckily our hosts were wonderful and took it all in their stride.

Unluckily I picked up some strain of gastro on the Monday and spent the night draped over the toilet in strange positions. A more violent virus, I have not known. This did not bode well for my support of Donna or the boys or our hosts or the long drive home.

It turned out Isabella would not be making the drive and so the girls would get to fly home. That left me with a spinning head and churning stomach and a vow to fight all the way home. My boys had a cross country to run on the Thursday and I was going to make sure they were there. Of course, they had already missed a couple of days of school as a result of this fiasco. The drive turned out to be much better than expected although there were a number of hairy moments, which thankfully passed without incident.

It was wonderful to be reunited at home as a family, to actually sleep for the first time in a week, and to discover the cross country was actually only on Friday.

It is a week later and Isabella is doing much better. Her parents will need lots of time to recover.

Another blow

My nose and I have been good friends for many years. And then I went and blew it!

We have been through much together, ups and downs. There was a time when we were very young and playing in a friend’s garden, when my nose stopped the incredible advance of a flight of stairs. This heroic action was not without its consequences, copious quantities of blood were spilt which ensured a sudden end to a peaceful garden party. My nose still proudly displays the scar. In fact that scar leads us forward into every day!

There are times when we argue, mainly in the winter months when it gets all snotty with me. I find I don’t link my nose then, and it seeks comfort in the casual embrace of others.  Yes, my nose has loved its fair share of tissues, and left some colourful wet spots in its wake.

I get my own back by eating hot chillies. I love chillies. I love the way they give me a high. I even enjoy the sensation of perspiration on my forehead. My nose always has the last laugh though, and it all ends in another tissue cuddle.

 Other times my nose has gone so far as to bleed for me. Is this not the ultimate act of friendship? The resulting blood stains on my shirts have given me the macho respect I always felt I was due. It really hurts that a soft tissue is the only thing that will comfort my nose again, and all I can do is stand back and watch.

Looking down my nose has never been easy. My eyes tend to cross over and squint and instead of being condescending, I end up looking like a mad man. We have also tried walking with my nose held up high, but I keep tripping over stuff, so we gave that up too. We just had to face the fact that there are some things we just cannot do!

We have done some secret things together too. We even snuck off to a hospital in Pretoria and had a nose job. It turns out that a nose is very useful to the process of equalising in a plane. My work started to require frequent air travel and my silly nose refused to equalise on the descents. It was a little painful and I tried hard to force fingers through my ear hole to put an end to it all. I still have no idea what my nose had against my ears, although I have the feeling I should! When I started to rack up my air miles, I booked myself in for a rhinoplasty. Lots more blood, kilometre long plugs up my nose, and five day off work did wonders for both of us.

Last night marked another milestone in our relationship. Things have been going so well between us lately, just two half hearted snotty fights all winter. We really have been joined at the cheek so as to speak.  Last night ruined it all. Willie’s knee and my nose are never ever going to see each other again. That is a fact! Willie was apologetic but his knee just laughed it off. Instead my nose and eyes had a very sad conversation resulting in a few tears being shed. Some of the tears making a sudden left at the end of my nose where the old track had been slightly modified!

I am not sure that Judo is good for me anymore. So far this year, the ligaments in my foot have complained twice and very loudly. My elbows are bruised, as are my knees, and now my nose is out of joint. I really don’t know how to make it up to all of my best friends...