The crossroads in life I was driving our teen daughter and her friends to a church camp. They were all between 16-21 years old. The camp would be at a beach site, promising joy and fun to any young heart nearing the end of a sun-filled summer holiday. The air was brimming with excitement as…
The sheep-shearing The cancer diagnosis came first. Then the treatment. With the treatment, a shape-shift in my appearance happened. It was totally expected. The weight loss was welcomed and a bit intentional, as I am following a particular diet. For the first time in many years, I shed the unwanted midlife bulges and felt much…
Sharing the news It was a clumsy affair. As a counsellor, one would think that I would have all the textbook answers on how to share the news. But no. I first wanted to contact each loved one in person, wanting to make them feel OK about the dreaded news. I soon became overwhelmed by…
The human need for being-understood-and-understanding-others is fascinating. The last few weeks I have been bombarded on various levels with this concept, and it sent me into some contemplation. Time … is not on our side Living in the Western World implies having a busy life. “Busy” seems to be like a password, used whenever we…
2021: Off to a (not so) good start: Most people I know were glad to say goodbye to 2020. Most people I know, talk a lot about the shocking start to 2021. For the people working in hospitals, care institutions and other healthcare settings, the start to this year was not the most promising ever….
I was sitting next to my dad’s hospital bed. The lights were dimmed, curtains slightly drawn. The scent of sanitiser intermingled with hospital food aromas filled the air. Such a clinical setting. Not the ideal scene for my last memories of my dad. Death knocking on the door He never wanted to spend his last…
What do Queen, Peter Sarstedt, Paul Simon, Maroon 5 and Abba have in common? Apart from them making up a pretty good Saturday afternoon playlist, they also help tie this post together… let me explain. My blog posts so far all dealt with the adversities we experience. Seems like I am not quite off that…
We are reaching the end of all this giant talk. But one giant still lurks in the paragraphs of this post, one last giant we still need to dislodge from his hiding place… In my previous post I wrote about survival in the valleys of our lives. Little did I know then what valleys would…
Giants are a bit of a theme in our house lately. We have just completed a giant detox eating plan for two weeks to stop us from becoming giants ourselves (it helped somewhat). Also, Paul wrote a blog series on the giants in the Bible, and that made me think of another kind of giant…
Daily comforts and battles There is something about rooibos tea that makes you want to go “aaaah”. The comfort and delight it brings to a tired mind and thirsty body is a best seller. Right up there with the other best sellers: falling asleep in my husband’s arms. Hearing my kids giggle about some mischief…