Together

Tall and strident

you lean into me as strength

I support our days

~

Mother and child
entwined from our shared roots bound
softly caressed love
~

lovers dipped in ink

choose shadows from their soul's heart

paint pictures as one

Life of a Courier

Oh, silly girl. Late for my very first day! Not a great way to make a good first impression, but you cannot turn back the hands of time. Ian had convinced me to go out for a last hurrah on my final night in Harare and it would seem that I either forgot to set my alarm, or just plain slept through it. I was lucky that the truck was still there at all, as I choked when I rolled over to see that the time was 50 minutes past when I should have been at our meeting destination.  The truck was loaded and ready to go, when I ran up breathless with tail between my legs. I sheepishly threw all my worldly possessions into the storage bay under the truck and slunk on board praying that I would be able to improve the opinion I was sure Kylie and Angus now held of me. 

By hook or by crook, I was on the road again.

It took a few days, but my training crew slowly began to warm up to me. With a five-week training trip to get to know everything about how to be a courier, I had a lot to learn. I had to be friendly and informative with passengers, able to book day trips, organize grocery shopping, navigate road maps, maintain regular upkeep of the truck, have fun, but still keep some kind of balance in that fun so that I could function the next day. With the history that I had accustomed myself to in Harare, that last one was proving to be the most difficult.

The first week of the trip was a bit of a review for me. We visited a game ranch, where rhino were spied and some ice breaking was in order with a game of polo cross. The guests on the truck then took in the ruins at Great Zimbabwe.  I opted to stay back, as I had previously explored the ruins and the weather was a little too wet and cold for me. Despite it being the dry season, this May was unseasonably wet with more rain falling than had been seen in many years. The gray clouds matched my mood though, as I pined for my old travelling companion Brett. I missed him terribly and wondered if I had made a mistake in separating from him. We didn’t stay put long enough for me to dwell too much on it though, as we were off to Lake Kyle, then Bulawayo, before heading to my old favourite destination of Victoria Falls.

As the days passed, it was questionable if I was in fact sabotaging my goal of working in Africa at all. Every time we came across another overland truck, as we invariably did on a pretty regular basis, I was thrown back into temptation again. My food, transportation and accommodation were paid for by the company, but beer was also included and I seemed not to have enough wherewithal to be the consummate professional that I wished to fashion myself as. 

By the time we got to Victoria Falls, I was hobnobbing with all my old friends and enjoying every minute of it. The first day, I bumped into Nat and Keith while I wandering with a few of the truck’s passengers.The night after that, I was hanging out with Max and Ndaba like they were long-lost friends. My blood-shot eyes stung constantly from lack of sleep and the pax laughed at me for my antics. I was always game for the next adventure though and dug in for white water rafting with relish. I gave my support to the girls who dove off the bridge for beautiful bungi swan dives as well, despite not joining them for that adrenaline thrill. My thrill was to see if I would last as an overland truck courier. The odds were stacked against me. 

Saturday's Email of the Week: Three Things About Me

So this week I am going to work my "Saturday's Email of the Week" a little differently. I received this email from two people this week, and thought perhaps I would share it here with you. I am sure you have all seen it in emails, or as a stipulation to accept an award out here in the blogosphere. Well, no awards today, but you get a little snapshot of ME; 

A. Three things I am called - Mommy, Katherine, Kat

B. Three places I have been – Africa, Europe, Costa Rica (or if you want more specific, how about Luxembourg, Zambia & Vancouver Island)

C. Three things I love to watch - the ocean, a stream, my children laughing ( can I get an AWwww!)

D. Three places I have been to today - (I am cheating as I scheduled this. Can't you tell by the time? I am probably still in bed!! Deal with it!) the bathroom, the kitchen, back to bed

E. Three people who regularly email me –  my Mom, Corrie, Melissa

F. Three things I love to eat - lobster, crab, pie (yum, thinking midnight snack now!)

G. Three people I think will respond - I am betting on Brian, Ron and maybe Corrie (but I will try to respond to anyone else that does!)

H: Three things I am looking forward to  - dinner with neighbours tonight,  camping this summer, sleeping in (zzzz...)

I. Three hobbies -gardening, writing poetry, chasing my children to bed

J. Three Favourite animals - cats, dogs, snakes

Here's what you're supposed to do... and please do not spoil the fun. Hit forward, delete my answers and type in your answers. Then send this to a few good friends or family INCLUDING the person who sent it to you. The theory is that you will learn something about each other.
 
BE yourself, everyone else is ALREADY taken!!!

**

Well, as far as the bottom section, I didn't send it along and I don't expect you to go sending off mass emails to everyone you know, but I thought it might be fun to share. If you've got a list of threes, let me know a little bit more about you in your comment, or link up with your own! I am hoping to be outdoors for the better part of the day, as the weather looks like it just might finally decide to relent and allow us some Spring. About time! 

Happy Saturday!

Hot Stuff

He reached out. His eyes sparked with promise. He wanted me. Needed me.  The moment was ours, alone. Would I acquiesce? Would I give myself to him? 

I felt weak in the knees and my heart fluttered .

“Would you like to enter to win an iPad?”

I shook my head, as I walked away.

$$$

Whew, that was a close one. My companion at the Home and Garden show remarked that many eyes followed me today. While the promise in the eyes of this young man seemed brazen, it was the 70+ year old that asked me to come back to visit him again. Feeling like hot stuff after that forward approach. 

Oh, and my encounter today just happens to be a scant 55 words for my friend the G-Man. He got my head thinking with his crazy post today.

Stream of Consciousness

Tired, so tired

written words wrenched desperate

pen falls to table