Becky and I go to the Cape

From history lessons and shopping and soccer games, we traveled to the Eastern Cape to a lovely little town of Danabay near George. My friend Miemsie was already there on leave with her children and we accepted her gracious hospitality to join them. Here we awoke to the sun coming up over the ocean and went to sleep to the sound of the waves on the beach. Becky made new friends her own age, going out to watch a soccer match with the group, walking through yet another market (this time in Sedgefield), and generally hanging out while Miemsie and I worked on our second article and outlined the next 2 in our series.

We finally made time to see African animals as well. On one day, we took a game drive in an open vehicle where we got to see white rhino, kudu, wildebeestes, water buffalo, giraffes, lions, different kinds of deer, and some ostrich. The ranger knew so many interesting things about each animal and made the entire drive entertaining and educational. We took advantage of an opportunity to Cango to see animals up close and personal and learn about issues related to endangerment. Here we were most excited about our time to pet the 9-week-old cheetahs, the older cheetahs, and the tigers. Then we went to a series of conservation sites where we took a hand-in-trunk walk with the elephants; saw lemurs, cappuchin monkeys, and a number of other primates; then had a wild cat experience to see cheetah, leopard, and several of the "lesser cats" as we learned about the challenges of preserving these animals in the wild.

Our last evening at the cape was celebrated with Miemsie, her son and his friends, and our colleague Hanlie at a great seafood restaurant where the special for the evening was the sushi bar! We had a lively evening talking and laughing and yet another research project emerged for the 3 UP folks who couldn't help but talk shop. With goodbyes said before we went to bed and one more set of hugs with Miemsie on Tuesday morning, Becky and I were off the airport for a quick flight back to J'burg and our final round of packing her up before we returned to the airport for her final send off. She managed to have her first pizza since leaving the states as her "last lunch" in South Africa and over chicken wraps as our supper, we talked about her solo flight home, changing flights in Atlanta, and then arriving in Washington to meet her dad.

While reading through the blog, it's pretty clear where the time went, but actually writing the words, thinking about her impending landing, and looking at all the brochures from our trip and the dirty laundry in the closet and the empty refrigerator, I can't believe her visit is over. We had our occasional moments of tension. After all, how many times can you really get lost?! What happens when you are tired, or having a bumpy day because you forgot your camera, or you aren't sure what's going to happen next and who you'll be doing it with? But compared to all of the rest of the time - snuggling under our world cup blanket at home as we tried to stay warm while we watched soccer on tv, or trying to figure out what's going on with the characters of Isidingo (Becky's favorite soap) and Generations (my favorite soap), or deciding what to order when we went out to eat or when we stayed home for supper, or just hanging out along the way to somewhere - we had a pretty wonderful time together. The part of my heart that's labeled Rebecca expanded a little more to take in the precious young woman she's becoming and I look at her with such amazement and wonder for the person she is and for the gift of her time with me.