Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Guess Who's Back. Back Again.


Today is exactly five months since we left little ol' Johannesburg. I remember that day well - it had been one helluva week. There had been all the usual admin that goes along with packing up your life - buying clothes for the trip, checking medications, last minute dinners, family farewells, and drinks with friends. I had to wrap up three big jobs that I'd just finished working on, and submit invoices, recons and returns.

And on top of that I'd been fighting off the normal Johannesburg flu that seems to latch on to every life form around that time of year - just as winter has firmly sunk its claws in. Then my mom found out she was sick, like, really sick, but more on that another time - she's all better now, which is the most important thing.

It was four days to go. Husband and I sat down for one last Joburg lunch at a new restaurant that had just opened in Fourways. Trying out newly opened restaurants in our home town has to be one of our favourite things to do. Husband had the spaghetti bolognaise, and I had a shrimp sandwich.

Later that afternoon we gathered with a big group of friends for final goodbyes. Something didn't feel right. The anxiety was growing about the trip, my admin list still felt daunting, I was heartsore saying goodbye to dear friends. But something else just didn't feel right.

A few hours later we returned home. The house was a shambles of to-do piles, clothes to take, things to leave behind. There was still so much to do!

I finally made it to bed. 

And an hour later I was hugging the toilet. 

That shrimp sandwich was not a winner. I spent the next 24 hours man-down, crawling from the bed to the bathroom. This was no joke. This was the sickest I had ever been. In. My. Life.

A full day spent in bed later, having achieved not a single thing (besides from making even better friends with the toilet, and lots of delirious rolling around on the bed), and having missed an important family dinner, Husband spent the day driving me around to run my last few errands. Yes, it was that bad.

And one day later, I piled every possible thing I could fit into the biggest suitcase I could find (which promptly started to split open the moment my brother picked it up to carry it to the car), and we got on an aeroplane.


And then started the best adventure of my life.

So, where am I going with all this exactly? And why am I telling this somewhat-gross, somewhat-crazy story early on Tuesday morning after not blogging anything for weeks? 

Well, I'm not so sure I know the answers to all of those questions. But I do know sometimes you have to look back to really appreciate how far you have come. And that a good guts-spewing story is always a great way to get readers back. A bit of honesty, and blood. Yip, that's what I'm going with.

So, what's been happening since we last spoke? You tell me, and I'll tell you.


We arrived in LA exactly thirty-four days ago. We'd driven through a rainstorm, thick mist hanging over the city, and when we stepped out of the car, wearing only shorts and t-shirts from the desert earlier in the day, were met by a definite chill.

What followed was four and a half weeks of mayhem. I tried to do a photo a day, but would realise a week later that I hadn't taken a single photo in all that time. 'Admin' is a bit of a boring thing to take pictures of. And 'stressful admin' often meant my camera either sat abandoned at the bottom of my bag, or worse, left behind at home. Cringe.



But I said I wouldn't abandon you forever, and now that we have a wonderful little apartment, and have finally unpacked all the bags, I feel like I can start putting little bits of my heart back into this blog.


This last week we haven't even had internet, as we transitioned from one spot to another (via an in between spot too!), so this long break from blogging has been a welcome relief.

At least now I've been able to share a few of the pics I did manage to snap.

So now I'm back! With tons more posts, tidbits, little lost stories from our journey, and new stories from the next few weeks. The only thing I might be doing a little differently is taking weekends off, like the rest of the world does, because I want to be normal like that. Awesome.

Thanks to those who keep commenting - your comments mean so much to me, and it's great to get feedback, and know that you're reading and appreciating. It also helps me know what you'd like to hear and see more of.

I'd love to hear from more of my silent readers!

Chat soon now, like tomorrow. Byeeeee.

4 comments:

Dill said...

Excellent post, little one. And to be fair I probably could have been a little more careful picking that bag up. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Glad you're back, Robyn. My, but those meals look huge! mom

Unknown said...

love! what a start to a trip - I'd forgotten how stressful those last few days were! Thank goodness you can now sink into your own couch, in your own apartment! X

movan said...

SO good to hear more from you. All the best and lots of love from us. x x x