We are back

What a wonderful weekend. Not only was I privileged to witness a good friend of mine ordained as a Catholic priest but also found myself immersed in the warmth of old friendships.

Justin’s ordination, about which I shall blog more later, was a catalyst for bringing together school friends from 19 years ago. Sure, we have seen each other on occasions since then, but this was the first time that we were all together. Truly frightening was that all of these old friends had discovered the art of procreation and perfected it in their numerous offspring. Out of 7 mates, there are now 14 children and 2 current pregnancies. And one of those friends is a priest and does not count!

Amongst them, I found a comrade who also shares a love of old Fords with big engines that like to drink! Lots!

Besides the school mates, the weekend gave us the opportunity to reconnect with a number of our Johannesburg friends. To write that I have been extra ordinarily blessed with a number of incredibly deep male friendships would be an understatement! I am still great mates with one of the first bosses of my working career, from my time at the Johannesburg Council. It is a relationship which needs little in the form of daily, weekly or even monthly maintenance, yet when we get together we connect so deeply that a conversation is a holiday! We both have this feeling that in the future, we will end up doing some good together. I have no idea what it may be, but it is comforting to know that at least one heavyweight is prepared to fight at my side!

And then there was the time spent with heaps of friends and family, all most appreciated and thoroughly relaxing. There is nothing like time spent with others! To all of those friends and family that entertained us with love and copious amounts of food; we love you guys!

I had dinner last night with a mate and his family. It was wonderful to once again have deep discussions with a good friend. Never have I debated the meaning of life with such intensity and I am amazed at how often this is happening to me. Visiting this friend is very interesting – once you open the door, you enter a whole new reality. Within a minute, I had met Spikey, the new pet Bearded Dragon. Sounds a bit violent for a pet but then this is not your average family. I also got to probe Spikey’s food – amazing stuff - a heaving mass of worms as well as a container full of crickets. I was even invited to chop of the cricket heads as Spikey is not too keen on the heads. He does however like his crickets dipped in a strawberry flavoured power - nothing quite like a strawberry cricket shake! Amazingly enough I did not find myself tempted to try one. With three boys and a girl in the house, conversation ranged from beheaded crickets to soccer to chess with the finale being a premiere of a song for a concert later this week (twice).

This is a special household – strong family values abound here! It is filled with respect and caring and love. These are just a couple of reasons why I thoroughly enjoy coming back to visit. These reasons and the deep philosophical debates that we have ensure that I leave with plenty to think about. My friend is also a truly special person to me in that he is a beacon in a sea of craziness. He is never afraid to ask the hard questions. For instance – am I making this change for selfish reasons? Am I sure that what I am doing is not purely for my own good but for the good of the family? I suppose what he is asking is am I doing this to get a holiday or is my family going to suffer as a result of this decision while I get to do the things I want to do? Tough questions, thanks buddy.

My visit was also a wake up call that I am extremely lucky to be in a position where I can take a chance with my life and do something different as well as have the financial resources to survive for a little while. Not everyone out there has the means or ability to make drastic changes, to do what they want to do. Most are well and truly stuck in life and there are very few options for desired change that are acceptable. Regardless of our life circumstance, we are all capable of asking hard questions of ourselves. We also owe it to ourselves to be honest with our answers. I am privileged and blessed to have a friendship as special as this one.