10 years ago, I was never going to get married. I was a single mom, had my own house, my own business and my own car. I had the freedom to do what I wanted, when I wanted, and with whom I wanted. I was happy. Until one day I wasn’t. I had broken up with a man whom I thought I loved, and I was just so tired of hurting and fighting. Frustrated I [...]
Where do you even begin to describe the real challenges associated with singleness vs. marriage? I run the risk of making myself incredibly vulnerable by the detail I share in this post, but to most of your readers I am a “relative stranger”, so whilst there may be some risk, I believe sharing may benefit some and in turn out-weight the associated risk. I’ve been reading through your, and everybody else’s posts and have found [...]
One of the most important relationships one can have is friendship. Family is family but you get to choose your friends, and all that. i have a crazy amount of good friends who i thoroughly appreciate and thought it necessary to have some posts looking at how we can make good friends as well as be good friends to those around us - i hope you enjoy: Cheering Section: The Art of Mentoring - I [...]
one by one or in twos they arrive starting with family who are here early to make pancakes and watch little ones and then friends also start appearing friendly and awkward chatter takes place in multiple rooms of the house flapjacks are consumed coffee is made and then drunk with equal measures of passion scattered laughter from small groups of people who have not seen each other for a while of whiles and at some point [...]
Last night, my wife Valerie [aka The Beautiful Val aka tbV] and i won the lottery. Now let me get this straight, i am not talking about the Dutch Lottery that i seem to win with alarming regularity [despite having never sent in any kind of entry or bought any ticket of any kind, but if it arrives in my email it must be true, right?] And i don't mean that time that kind old [...]
A few weeks ago, tbV and our two housemates Aaron and Sarah went for a meal and games-playing evening [yes, Settlers of Catan] to our friends from church, Mike and Leah. Aaron and Mike have at least one thing in common in that they both work in what must be one of the best jobs in the world - teaching young children engineering concepts through Lego [or Legos if you're Americanese!]. So before we went to [...]
A community of friends who pool their money to meet the needs of people they know. That is what Common Change is all about. And that is the non-profit that my wife, tbV, and i work with and have been for the last year and a half. Almost every time we explain the concept to people and they get it, it excites them and they want to know more. But many people in that boat [...]
yesterday i attended a baptism and family picnic that our church family, Re:Generation, holds twice a year... it is one of the highlights for us [and not just because of the quantity of fine meat they prepare - these okes know how to barbecue braai!] because of the feeling of family celebration and togetherness that tends to come out of it... and just a much less rushed time of being able to hang with church folks [...]
What a shock some of you reading this will get when you discover that my dad, yes, my biological father, is coloured. “But you look so white!” many have noted. Well done. It is true – I am a mixed baby, although I got the paler skin of our mother while my brother has many a time been compared to a Mexican. We’ve heard some interesting guesses of our ethnicity over the years: Portuguese, Brazilian, [...]
Here are simply a collection of stories from people who have lived in countries or areas of diversity and have a race theme to a part of their story which they have so graciously decided to share with us: Meet Deborah Dowlath [Trinidad and Tobago] Meet Kevin Lloyd James Lok [South Africa] Meet Caley Daniels [South Africa] Meet Susan Hayden [reblog of 'Disco Pants & a Mountain' post]