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Today 6 years ago you were waiting for your bride to arrive at the chapel But just when you thought your nerves couldn’t take it anymore, I arrived.

I will never forget your face as I walked down the aisle towards you. You had an expression of absolute love and adoration. We were both jittery but excited too and as Liz gave the beautiful ceremony, I just lost myself in you. We said out vows and confirmed our union with a kiss. I was so proud to walk out of Falcon Crest Chapel as your wife, Mrs Bowen.

Pete, I love you more each year and miss you more with every trip that you’re away. But nothing can change how very much you mean to me.

Happy Anniversary,

With all my love

Your rabbit

There seems to be a yearly trend in Durban, KZN. Every year, without fail, Mother Nature puts on a spectacular show of thunder, lightning and flooding for us. This year it came a bit earlier than usual.

We’d been experiencing blistering weather making it unbearable to make contact with anything – even sitting on a chair made ones legs sticky. You end up standing with your legs slightly apart and your arms just those few inches away from your body and it’s all you can do, to keep your mouth from dropping open like a bird, in an attempt to cool yourself down. So it wasn’t surprising when on Tuesday (16/2) the skies darkened and a threatening breeze sprang up.

I was preparing dinner for the kids when ‘Mother’ announced the arrival of her latest spectacle with a profuse bang echoing across the skies. This brought upon a downfall of magnificent proportions and it’s as if the Gods had left the tap on and the bath was overflowing. The dark skies boasted a strobe light show, punctuated with piercing bangs that had the kids in a frenzy and grabbing at my dress.

Let me tell you it’s quite unusual to have an arm around each kid and then stretch your neck to reach your fork, so as to take a bite of food, without actually strangling your youngling!

Although the storm was spectacular in Pinetown, would seem that Durban was given a greater display.

It has cooled down dramatically since and I’m left wondering if that was thee storm for the year, or if our Mother is just toying with us and saving the best for last.

Each decade was marked by its unique style. In the 50’s it was just about indoctrinating women to look smart and to be a ‘lady’ at all times. They slept with curlers in their hair, to ensure that they looked their best the following day, in soft curls and wearing a feminine swing skirt. Men always wore suits, even for a Sunday walk in town or to the movies and the so called ‘long hairs’ were frowned upon. The political unrest, the so called ‘out there’ music and the hippie movement saw a lot of change and it’s no wonder that the 60’s brought an awareness to women of their individuality and their sexuality. What better way to flaunt it, than with the famous mini skirt and often boots to accentuate the outfit? Still encouraged to be the perfect lady and to take pride in ones appearance was still the order of the day. However, this decade soon flowed into the next and before anyone knew it, it was the era of disco. The 70’s were a combination of halter necks, platform shoes, flared pants and still the bell bottoms carried over from the 60’s. Fashions were more relaxed and although men were still gentlemen and women were still ladies, the attention on being just about perfect had shifted. The 80’s were plain and simply garish! Big hair, lots of bright make up and plastic jewelry… Need I say more? I might add, in my opinion, that this is when society started sliding. The 90’s were not much better with some strange dance sequences being seen in some music videos and not to mention some questionable hairstyles – I was there for that! And so every decade we look to the future and how we aspire to be better and more modern than the previous generation… But then came the 21st century and well to put it into one line, it just all went to sh**!

Another year done and dusted!

My darling, this is the year for new things, great happenings and more wonderful memories to make.

I know that the year will bring you all the love and success you deserve and I can only hope that you have an awesome birthday, despite being at work.

I love you so much!

Soon it was time for us to pack up and move on to our next[/caption] destination in Namibia. Unfortunately this is where the Bowen clan broke up a bit. My sister-in-law, Jo, went off with her family and Mick, Pete’s brother, came with us. We drove an approximate distance of 520kms to Norotshama River Resort, 50kms from the Noordoewer border, on the banks of the Orange River, in the Aussenkehr Nature Park. Once again the campsite booking got mixed up, but management was prompt in accommodating us, to make up for the confusion.

Despite the initial booking mix up, we were all unpacked in no time. The next couple of days were very adventurous. We spent a lot of time canoeing up and down the river (another big moment for me), walked among the vineyards, took a 4×4 ride up to the top of a hill and took in some of the most amazing and dramatic views, did a so called white water rafting experience with an adventure company called Felix Unite (which turned out to be just a bit of bouncing over some rocks. Well, Mick and I bounced over some rocks. The rest of our group did follow the instructions) and we drove through a village, Aussenkehr, made entirely of straw, which Kyra now calls the pig village because of the second little pig in the fable, The Three Little Pigs, who used straw to build his house.

 

We saw New Year in with a shower of champagne and much merriment, despite a noisy crowd behind us who honestly thought the entire Namibia wanted to hear their dire choice of music… Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and the day eventually came for us to say our good byes. After many hugs and tears, we all departed. It was a 3 day drive back for Pete and I and by the end of the first day, approximately 650kms later, we pulled into the tiniest town called Groblershoop, where we overnighted at the Grapevine Guesthouse. The quaint guesthouse had an old farm house charm with a subtle modern touch. They served the largest T-bone steaks known to mankind, their service was warm and friendly and Pete and I will definitely return, should we be in that part of the world again. Our second night was spent in Virginia so that I could see my oldest son, which really was wonderful! Thank you to my sister-in-law and her family for having us. We finally pulled into our driveway on the third day at about 17H30. This holiday was truly memorable and it’s all thanks to Rob and Jane. Once again you made it possible for all of us to have the time of our lives! Thank you.