I wrote this on the 12th of May...and didn't have any internet access until today!
At this very moment I’m sitting at the Heathrow airport,
waiting for my plane to depart at exactly 21:00. And for the first time I have
a story that need to be told in English, as it was the English season in me and
my husband’s lives. I need this story to be also reader friendly to the
gorgeous English friends we made.
I went for a long walk this morning in Newport Pagnell,
where my in- laws live. I would rather like to call them my “other parents”!
During this one and a half hour walk I reflected on my year in England and I
made amazing discoveries…
I realised that this year was me and Dan’s (Or Lambrecht as
I know him) sabbatical in Engeland. I’d like to call it our sabbatical year in
Stamford. According to dictionaries, a sabbatical is time you take to find
yourself, to grow as a person.
That’s exactly what we did.
We grew as the Coetzee couple. We used our year in Stamford to get to know
each other. We discovered new things about each other, but we also discovered
new things about ourselves. This was after all our first time being married!
This sabbatical in Stamford was also significant for our
faith. In Kings Gate church I met Jesus, who I always knew, again. Our
relationship developed and grew to a whole new level. We made beautiful friends
in church who also love Jesus…Scot, Tanya, Dave, Jenny, Caroline. And the list
goes on.
In Frothys where I waitressed, I made friends with stunning
people who learned to understand my peculiar English. They accepted me for who
I was. Abbie even made me a little “dictionary” in which they kept adding words
to help broaden my vocabulary. Sue made me a little recipe book with all kinds
of interesting recipes. They were always scintillating company! (See Abbie, I
remembered that word without having my “dictionary” with me!) Abbie, Naomi,
Sue, Richard and Louise were more than colleagues. They became dear friends.
The group of South Africans we met on the Queen’s island
became our family. It’s with them we had Sunday lunches, barbeques on sunny days
and fun karaoke evenings. We would never forget the special memories we share
with them – Marcel, Eska, Angelique, Altus, Bernie, Lezanne, Colin…
Then there’s my very special in- laws. They became more than
my husband’s parents. They are my own. They were always available. We could go “home”
just to “be” at their house.
And then there’s Josh and Norma and Pat. Special, special
people.
From the beginning, we were on our way back to South Africa.
But God first had to teach us a few lessons on the way.
“When you are moving toward an objective,” said Petrus, “it
is very important to pay attention to the road.” It is the road who teaches us
the best way to get there, and the road enriches us as we walk it’s length.”
The Pilgrimage – Paulo Coelho
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