Rambles from World's End

Like any Parent I always feel peacock proud when someone compliments my Butterfly's character. Often when I collect her from “Kindy” I am told by one of the teachers what a great help she is at “clean-up time.” A lot of the parents comment on how well mannered she is and seem genuinely impressed that she holds the kindy gate open for me while I negotiate my way through with the perambulator or that she carries her own backpack and anything else she brings home. Some people are amazed that she makes her bed every morning, I’m not she gets paid $2 a week to do that! She greets everyone we pass on our way to and from school and is well known to the employees of our local grocery store and “get anything” shop. I was gob smacked when standing in a queue at the check out the cashier said: “You’re Sarah-Marie’s mum!” Apparently on one of our trips to school we past her on the street and the Butterfly stopped in front of her and said “Hello I’m Sarah-Marie what’s your name?” I have absolut...

So it’s Thursday afternoon and despite the howling wind and low grey clouds I took the girls out for a walk to the “Wind Wand” to banish the cabin fever that was causing havoc. We ended up sitting at a Cafe’ sipping on a milkshake and a coffee while the littlest sucked on some formula. Behind us was seated a couple who had obviously had a bad day. The guy, openly gay and obviously comfortable with his sexuality was bitching about someone who had offended him in some way. The lady, whose name I assume was “Delta” was very sympathetic and making all the right noises. It was extremely uncomfortable! The Butterfly was fascinated by this very flamboyant man sitting behind me gestating wildly in fury, stopping now and then to sip on his “low fat vanilla latte hold the foam.” It’s very difficult to distract a four year old or not listen when someone is not being discreet or trying to maintain some kind of privacy in a public place. So I drank as quickly as a hot cup of coffee allowed me and...

What an emotional rollercoaster this year has been. The pregnancy wasn't just hormonal; it was the sudden realisation that this time round I was completely on my own. That for me was the scariest thing about this pregnancy, if the new arrival was anything like the Butterfly for the first three months I was in a lot of trouble. So I had just gathered myself towards myself and gotten over my neurosis of the first trimester and we began planning for 2011. We had big plans for this year; we were going to make some big changes in keeping with our newest addition. Bring it on we yelled, we are ready for you 2011 and our third year at World’s end. Then my Grumpy Father-in-law fell ill and landed up in hospital. It broke my heart watching the Mauritian sway back and forth between going back home or not. I watched him pace up and down as he spoke to his God Father, the family doctor and friends of the family. I could do nothing to ease his pain as he tried again and again to contact my ...

Three weeks after my grumpy father in law died the Mauritian received his inheritance; we were both so stunned by the amount that we invested the entire amount immediately before we were able to spend a cent. Afterward we both kept saying that we should have kept some aside to buy this or that or whatever, of course if we hadn’t acted so quickly we would’ve spent most of it with ease. In hind sight investing it all was a good thing it’s given us time to get used to having the money and really think about how we are going to use it or work it. It also got us thinking about providing for our children financially and teaching them the value of money. So we did what most parents do, we opened savings accounts for both the girls and we put a small amount in every payday. We also began to discuss when it was the right time to start giving the Butterfly pocket money and how much. The Mauritian was all for giving her a small amount every week regardless, I believed the only way she would appre...

So it’s October 24th and I’m grateful for three things, today’s a public holiday, tomorrow the Butterfly goes back to school and the Rugby World Cup 2011 is finally over and the AB’s actually managed to pull off a win. It has been the focus of the sports news here from the time we arrived at the end of the world and it grew in intensity until the brilliant opening ceremony seemed to justify all the hype. Now I’m not averse to watching a game of rugby but I don’t spend the length of the game screaming at the television or cursing the ref. In fact if I’m not watching it with a group of enthusiasts I get bored after ten minutes and either change the channel or go do something else. Here at the end of the world Rugby is not a game it’s a religion. The AB’s are the gods and while it is accepted that even these gods are human sometimes, their captain is infallible. The captain, it must be said is also very nice to look at, even when he’s battered and scowling after losing a game. In fact th...

I have come to realise that there is no sense worrying about my children: I have learnt that they are going to catch colds and flu and all sorts of viruses and bacteria I have learnt that they are going to fall over, trip up and walk into stationery objects I have learnt that they are going to scrap knees, bump heads, chip teeth and break bones I have learnt that they are going to feel intimidated, bullied, left out and ignored I have learnt that they will make their own choices no matter the warning I have learnt that they will learn the same lesson I did by making their own mistakes I have come to realise that I cannot protect mychildren from everything life throws at them But I can wrap my arms around them and comfort them I can be their sounding board and punching bag I can be their shoulder to cry on and ear to listen I can point out the life lesson in the experience I can be their doctor and nurse at any time day or night I can try to catch them when they fall I c...

The October holidays begin and so does the rain, top that off with both daughters coughing and you’ve got a great start to what you hoped would be a good busy holiday for all of you. I was looking forward to not having to rush in the mornings and taking time changing out of my pj's and mini sleep in mornings. I was looking forward to picnic lunches in the park and walks to the library for story time and craft workshops for littlies. What I got was snot nosed children who kept me awake with their coughing and sneezing. What I got was woken up in the early hours of the morning by the Butterfly sobbing with fever. What I got was a Lollipop who had a hard time drinking because she couldn’t breathe at all. What I got was cold rainy and windy days that kept us locked indoors. What I got was rubbish bags full of used wet tissues. We took the girls to the doctors three times and though I knew there was little they could do for the Lollipop I was hoping for something to at least help ease t...