Being away from my farm and mostly my family has been exceptionally hard on me, but I can not help to count the little blessings in-between, like recently going back up to the farm for a visit.
The reason for my visit was a joyous and emotional one indeed, you see my daughter is in the process of matriculating, and as such it was her Matric Farewell - or as many of you non South Africans may call it, a Prom...
And I tell you what, with all the Covid regulations as well as the lock-down restrictions this year, I honestly didn't think that there would be a farewell dance for the kids at all this year - it certainly wasn't calculated in my budget, and we were left with a very short time frame to sort out everything from the dress, shoes, jewelry, photographer and makeup
But at the end of the day - everything worked out perfect, well at least as perfect as could be. We managed to rent a dress from a young girl that had matriculated a few years back, but even that only happened after many hours of dress fitting - which I needed to attend remotely due to the distance between us. Eventually she found a dress that she loved, and with some minor alterations, we were good to go!
As a mother I was not only beaming with pride, but also welling up with tears, it really does feel like a meager wink of the eye ~ Going from being my young little princess to an amazingly beautiful, talented and intelligent young woman ready to go off into the great big world on her own, but in my heart she will forever be my little princess
But the entire even was made very magical for the students, and as we are from a small farming community, it was almost surreal looking out at the kids just before the event started, thinking back on how most of them grew up right in front of me.
And while my daughter was out saying goodbye to her final year of school before heading out to university to study law, I managed to sneak in some time with my absolutely amazing friend...
I arrived on the farm Thursday evening after a 14 hour trip, spend some time with my family and went to bed reasonably late, Friday was the day of the farewell, and everything was based on back to back running in circles, Saturday I tended to a few things that needed my attention on the farm, and then spent a bit more time with the family, Sunday was my fathers birthday, and I had a lovely day of fishing planned with all the family and friends - sadly though my father fell very ill just after getting there, and as such the days plans were shattered.
None the less it was a really amazing weekend, and after all that travelling 13 hours back to the coast really left me feeling exhausted - it was well worth it though, and I am grateful that I was able to be there and share these special moments with those near and dear to my heart.
