Needless to say, this dizzy old Silver Blonde Lizzie will have more than one happy memory to talk about as she's been around the block for many many moons and has been blessed with a ton of VERY happy memories that I will share with you.
Hopefully, one of my great-great-grandchildren will one day be curious about their great-great gran and find these memories stored here on the blockchain!
Growing up - Family
Growing up in a large extended family who never stopped laughing when we got together was and still is the very best!
I was the first grandchild so am the one standing taller than all the little cousins and three of my brothers in the ancient pic below.
In the next pic all the cousins and in-laws are standing with our most favourite uncle, Rulov. He was the youngest of the older generation, and would have bitten our head off if we dared call him Uncle Rulov, a bittersweet pic as he no longer is with us.
However, this reminds me of how he used to make us laugh; he was born to be on the stage, and endlessly entertained us with his antics; the theatre world became his place of work.
Three generations are in the pic on the left-hand side when we all managed to get together one year. As we're scattered all over the world today this doesn't happen very often.
My Ouma always made the best Milk Tart and that job has now fallen on my lap for all family get-togethers. I used to stand on the kitchen chair and ask her for the decipe and she would patiently show me her baking tricks.
My own family
I met my hubby through a workmate and often think just how amazing that was, as I nearly chose a different career path when I left school.
I was never the broody type, but that changed when I became a Mom; the very best experience ever.
My two sons are total opposites with unique personalities, and have brought much joy...and worries too!
Growing up as the only girl out of five children, I always wanted a sister, then my wish turned into having a daughter, but that was not meant to be.
My boys however are my pride and joy! Here is a special birthday card from them.
Office Parties
Oh, we used to have fun year-end office parties, many themed and all very jolly affairs!
The best year-end party that hubby's employers arranged was a Casino theme that was such fun; of course no real money was won, but some took it quite seriously as can be seen in the pic.
The company he worked for was a top engineering firm and could afford to splash out, so the spouses/partners were always invited.
I, on the other hand, worked for the municipality and we had to pay for our own parties, but still had loads of fun; here we did a booze cruise around the harbour; although there was more laughter and eating than boozing.
The bottom left pic was a kind of reunion with the very first firm I worked for. I'm standing next to Joy who trained me when I was doing an apprenticeship as a survey draughtswoman, and Mr Watt who offered me this opportunity is to the right of Joy in the pic. Joy emigrated to Australia many years ago but came back to visit family so Mr Watt arranged the reunion.
He had a good sense of humour and always told the tale of his response when asked...
What is your name?
He took great pleasure in sharing his reply...
Watt is my name!
Fun with Family & Friends
The very best times were had when going away with friends and family; the pic on the left-hand side was when a big group of us managed to book the penthouse at the Blue Marlin Hotel in Scottburgh on the Kwazulu Natal South Coast through our holiday club; it was big enough for special friends and family. We had a ball that weekend!
Hubby is happiest when he has a fishing rod in his hand, even if the fish don't bite; gives him time to contemplate life :)
Our Cape holiday with friends was another real treat; here we're standing where the warm Indian Ocean meets the cold Atlantic Ocean.
The bottom right pic is taken from the Glenmore Sands on the lower KZN South Coast, another place we return to time and time again and a place that holds many happy memories.
Milestones
Half a Century
Age honestly is just a state of mind and my 50th birthday party was the very best and we had a blast; life was good!
Cousins, one of my best friends and in-laws in the pic below.
The Big Six 0
Along comes the 60th where you don't want to add the zero after that six, as it sounds like you're really over the hill, but hey, having conquered six decades of some very steep hills, I honestly felt like a conquerer and still young at heart; except for the aches and pains that start creeping up!
That party was even more of a blast and we took many many pics as you can see in the collage below.
Retirement - Lily's Cottage is born
So, I've told this story many times here, but I simply was not ready to go sit on the stoep verandah just yet, so turned our garden cottage into an Airbnb called Lily's Cottage as Mom Lily used to live there.
We eventually registered with the tourism bodies, and enjoy making new friends with some of our guests returning time and time again!
The happiest day was when we received our final registration.
I was elated as we were now legit and could make our presence felt on many other online booking sites!
The real Lily below with our registration Certificates on the right.
Guests arrive for vacations as we live close to the beach, some for business or sporting events, entertainers, honeymoon couples stay over before going away for their real honeymoon.
Many expats used to book while visiting family, that was before Covid restricted international travel.
Running a bnb post-retirement has been the very best job I've ever had, even though I'm now supposed to be nearing my twilight years.
My message to all of you is to never give up on your dreams; it's never too late, so make the best of life so you can also share your happy memories here on the blockchain one day!
This has been my ineligible entry for #BoW - My Happiest Memory
Theme for the Week closing on Tuesday 19 October 2021
This time, and after an edition (and a patch for so many) that had much pain and loss, this week's theme is a happy one -
My happiest memory
Go through those old photographs and scrap books and take us back to that happy time.
How to enter your post for the Blog of the Week (#BoW) - note the additional criteria
- Posts must be in English and obviously centre on the week’s topic.
- Prose must be a minimum of 350 words. If it’s a photo or graphic essay, the photos must be your original work and preferably with some sort of back-story to the images.
- The blog must be posted in/from our community
- The account must be a subscribed Silver Blogger
- Use #BoW - blog of the week - as your first tag. And follow the tag so we can all easily find, upvote and comment on other entries.
- Share the link to your entry in the comments of this post and in our Discord channel which is open to subscribed members only.
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