pexels - Elly Fairytale
My last post was about 5 months ago. Just when I thought, I was good on track here on Hive, everything changed.
There was just a downward spiral of unfortunate events and that is now on top of everything Covid-19 related if that was not bad enough.
On 6 August a tree fell over here in the yard and wrote off our car. Unbelievable but true. Early September my mother-in-law broke her right arm and the family asked my hubby and I to go care for her. She is almost a 1000 km from us, luckily we got a lift to Kimberley, still being without a car. I somewhat left with a heavy heart, because here at home, my mother was also not well.
That is our flattened BMW under the grey cover, my kids bakkie was just damaged in front.
My last Hive post I did there, from my mother-in-law's house. Let me just get it out there. I am not a housewife, I really hate housework Hate? That is a strong word, but yes, and here I was keeping house for my 79-year-old mother-in-law who is a perfectionist.
At home hubby and I do whatever we want, when we want to do it. We are not keeping to a strict routine, total opposite to my mother-in-law's household where everything runs according to the clock. A 100 tasks per hour or so it felt. On day 3, I broke down crying telling hubby: Your mom is going to outlive us all as I cannot do what she did daily. Every day I just wanted to go home, feeling extremely guilty as she was so appreciative of what we were doing for her but at the same time so demanding. In the end we see her through 6 weeks, till after her plaster came off.
Here my new-found Hive journey came to a halt, just because there was just no time between personal care for my mother-in-law, the housekeeping and my work (holiday letting). The December holiday was before the door and with all the losses due to lockdowns I had to try to recover some losses.
Another bad thing that happened was that my phone was snatched from my hand while sitting in the car. I was in a total panick, as all my work, reservations, photos of holiday homes, and all of my personal photos was on that phone. So I had to deal with that too.
In the meantime we were shopping for a car with the little money the insurance paid out as we cannot afford to make debt. We looked at so many cars, it was a terrible ordeal trying to find the right car, with hubby's back problems and our finances. I was putting pressure on him because in the meantime back at home my mom's health was deteriorating. I wanted to go home and was not in the mood to take a bus.
At last, he thought he found the right car and we were ready to go home, back to paradise. I suggested we take a small 3-day holiday, just a breather before we have to face another hard situation at home. We went to Clarens, a small artistic village.
The tiny town of Clarens, nestled in the eastern Free State near the Lesotho border, is affectionately referred to as the jewel of the eastern Free State.
Watched over by the Rooiberg Mountains and the Maluti Mountains a short distance away, the area is home to icy-clean streams, crisp mountain air and a tree-filled town of great art and food.
Photo and description
https://www.thesouthafrican.com/travel-south-africa/clarens/
We were enjoying ourselves tremendously, making it also a special time to work on our marriage.
But then, more adversity. The car broke and what should have been 3 days, become 10 days in Clarens, while the car was in Bethlehem to be repaired. But after the initial faults were repaired the car was still not running and suspected faults were almost more than the value of the car. Long story short my hubby started to try and get the previous owner to pay as he told us the car was in a very good condition.
The Audi we left in Bethlehem.
Word from home that my mom is not well at all, we booked a bus and came home, leaving the "f#$&-up car in Bethlehem, where it still is. (A flippen long story for another day) and yes, I can cuss, although not often, but if my patience is stretched to the limits, it can happen.
Coming back home, my mom was much worse than I expected. She was dying, I am just so grateful that she was still speaking and I spend the next 3 days at her bedside. She was speaking less and less, eating nothing just taking with help a bit of fluids. We had nurses checked on her every day. She fell into a coma. Thank God she was not complaining of pain, only when we touched her to turn her, she cried out it hurts, but as the days pass, she was not responding to pain anymore. I was asking the professional medical staff if they can do more for her in hospital than we were doing at home and the answer was no. So we decided she will die here at home. After a few days, on 9 November she died peacefully. My dad just went to the bathroom and when he came back she was gone. It was an extremely sad time, but we were thankful for this last days with her, as well as thankful that her suffering was over. All that we have now is the grief and our memories.
A period of busyness followed assisting my Dad with everything regarding my mom's passing. Before we know it, it was our first Christmas without her. I tried to make the best of it as it was most probably our last Christmas with my daughter, son-in-law and my 2 grandsons as they were leaving early January to go sail the world.
Then it was January, we said our goodbyes and I was left with the responsibility of keeping their house standing, where we also stay. So I have been busy with that.
I got a message from 
So I did and here I am again.
What can I take from this last few months of adversity and hardship? The storm will pass and I will survive. No matter what is happening, life goes on and somehow you goes on with it!
Thank you for reading.
Photos without a source is my own.
hope777