We're not together.......

Last night I realised the tremendous gap between what things meant when I was young(er) and what they mean now.

I arrived home yesterday afternoon to find that my domestic help of the last 3 months had not pitched up for work.  Although I had a suspicion that this would be the case (she asked me to drop her pay off with a mutual friend on the weekend), I hadn't made too much of an effort to clean up on Monday evening.

I spent the next two hours cleaning, sweeping, washing laundry, etc. and when Dylan arrived home I realised I had not cooked any supper.  Being the gentleman he is, he offered to buy me supper - McDonalds.

We duly got into my car and sped up to the local McDonalds to buy takeaways.  The drive-through was incredibly busy so we stopped and went inside to order at the counter.  A young lady asked Dylan what his order was and then proceeded to type the order in and yell to the kitchen staff to 'hold the Jalepeno!'.  I was standing right next to Dylan and it looked as though she was ignoring me.  I leaned across and said to her, pointing in turn at Dylan and myself:
"We are together....."
I couldn't even finish my sentence:
"No we're not! She's my Mom!!!" Dylan loudly proclaims.

I meant 'together' as in our order should be placed 'together'
Dylan thought I meant 'together' as in an item.........

And hence I  know that there is a canyon between meanings from my generation to this one.

(By the way, the lady behind the counter answered Dylan by saying: "Your Mom looks very young......." ☺)

Seek and ye shall find....

Being the only woman in a house full of men, life has its moments.  One thing I have come to realise is that men cannot find anything....  They can spend an entire day looking for something and not find it.  I believe when you apply logic, you can find almost anything.

I have returned home from work at 4 pm and have one of my sons ask me if I had seen his ID book. When I asked him if he had looked for it, his answer was: "No, I didn't want to spend the whole day looking and then you walk in and find it in any case......"  which, of course, I did.  It was in the drawer of his bedside table!

Over the past weekend, Dylan and his cousin, Michael, were look for the LAN cable so that they could play computer games.  All credit to Dylan, he first asked his older brother if he had seen the cable, which he had not. It was then my turn:
" Mom, have you seen the blue LAN cable?"
"No, I haven't.  Where did you use it last?"
"In the dining room"
and so the search started:
Look in the dining room - last place it was used : nothing.
Look in the lounge - saw Dennis there with Dylan's laptop : nothing
Look in Dennis's bedroom - last person who used the LAN cable : Eureka!!!

I gave the cable to Dylan.
"Mom, you are amazing!!!  Did you go to the School of Finding Lost Things or something?"
No, I seriously think it's just because I'm a woman.........

He's all grown up now......

Yesterday it was my turn to collect Divan at the Randburg astro after his hockey practice.  On the way,  he asked me whether he could take a drive in my car when we got home.  Apparently his friends have started to teach him how to drive over weekends when he visits with them.  His friends all have licences being at least 1 year older than Divan.

I was a bit apprehensive, but agreed and once we got home and I had given him the "you are not going to drive faster than 20 km / hour" and " watch out for the dustbins" etc speech, I gave him the keys.  I must say, the pull away was perfect, and he didn't drive more than 20 km / hour.  He listened to me and did exactly what I said.

We got to a stop street and once he had stopped, he looked at me and told me that he had never pulled away on an uphill before.  I explained to him how it was done with the handbrake, the clutch and the accelerator.  He tried twice, but kept stalling the car.  I had my window open and put my hand onto the lever to close it.  Divan must have thought I was going to get out of the car and pull away for him.  He put his hand on my arm and said:  "No, Mom. I need to do this on my own.".  And he did.

Yesterday afternoon at 17h38 I realised that my baby has now grown up.  This is the last son I will be teaching how to drive, the last child I am putting through matric.  Where did the time go?

Divan at 3 years old

Divan at 17 years old

I wonder......

Sometimes I wonder about the way God created Woman.  And I wonder, when he programmed her, The time he spent on the upgrades.  [First daughter, a rather basic program to instil the value of loyalty and selflessness, then wife – more complex with the possibility of a few breakdowns, but it takes a 5 minute download to fix.  And then mother – a very complex program which requires the download of patches every so often as this program is prone to breakdowns].  How He decided on her capacities. If she had little meters on her back, just how much could she take before it pushed into the red or blew a fuse?  What keeps the gears in her chest moving, even though it often feels that they are rusty and in need of oil because of the pain she feels with every rotation?  How did He program her circuit board to love her family to the point of destroying herself?  Love each individual so much that she would rather short circuit than choose one over the other?  Was it to ensure her preservation that He programmed her to forgive and forget? That He wipes her memory card of yesterday’s pain and fills it with hope for tomorrow?  I’m just thankful that He tracks me, and ensures that my down time is minimal.  That my software is updated regularly and that my hardware, although depreciated, is kept in working condition.

Crowd surfing

One of the most difficult things for me as a parent is to keep calm when Dylan goes to a club with his friends.  I try very hard not to give him the third degree, but I'm afraid I can make Devi from Carte Blance look tame.  I need to know where he is going, with whom is he going, is he going to drink, how much does he think he is going to drink, does he know he can't have more than one beer if he is going to drive home, promise he will phone me to fetch him if he has more than one beer.

But I do this because I love him, and I want to protect him.

On Saturday Dylan and I were home alone.  We were watching a program on TV when the Pepsi ad aired showing the 3 guys crowd surfing towards the Pepsi fridge.

"We did that last night" Dylan says, pointing at the TV
"That's rather dangerous." I say, thinking how they could possibly fit so many people into the club....
"There weren't too many people there." Dylan explains
"That's even more dangerous, what if they dropped you?"
"Nah, we took one guy and three of us carried him lying down above us, round the club.....crowd surfing"

This after they had '1' beer......  I have no words........

Whatsis name.....

Today is 5 November.  Guy Fawkes Day. 
Last year my two dogs were frightened beyond belief by the fireworks in our suburb.  The fox terrier started climbing through the bedroom windows, pulling himself through the burglar bars.  The Chow was hyperventilating.

This year, I decided to ask our vet for medicine which would sedate the dogs so that the fireworks would not affect them too badly.  At 18h30 this evening, I measured just less than a capsule of the drug, mixed it with cheese and fed it to them.  By 19h00 I could see that it was taking effect - they were calm and just wanted to sleep - but I was worried that they would stumble into the swimming pool.

Dylan said that they couldn't fall into the pool.  I still have nightmares about our beautiful black labrador puppy that drowned while we were on holiday four years ago.
"Oh, yeah" Dylan says" I remember him.... What was his name?  Mbeki, Zuma...."
"Nelson, Dylan.  The puppy's name was Nelson."

The mind is willing, but the body is weak....

Dennis is trying to get a Summer League Hockey team together for the season which starts in September. As he has been out of school for over two years already, it’s not easy finding everyone who used to play hockey with him – and those he does find are not very fit.


He has asked his girlfriend, Robyn, to join his team – and Robyn, not having ever played hockey, is not very keen. She suggested to Dennis that, seeing as I played hockey and that I taught them how to play, I should be on his team as well.

Dennis looked at me, then started smiling, eventually laughing at the thought of me on his hockey team…. “I can play better hockey in my head than you ever could on the field, my boy.” I yelled after him as he started walking down the passage, “It’s just that my body can’t keep up with my mind anymore!”