Well I will start with end of November when Corne and I drove to Pretoria to go and see Shannon’s 1st flat. We arrived in Jhb in the morning after driving through the night, I think she had meticulously planned the music, one sokkie song after another and I was only allowed to put Laura Branigan on
For short intervals! Since C was driving, we made it in good time.

When we arrived in Jhb, we went to a shopping centre and C called her Aunt Coreen, she was dying to meet up with her, we waited there and had breakfast, till we could collect the keys to the flat and got lost regularly, how we laughed, When we eventually found the friends father, who gave us the keys, and we set off to find the flat in Pretoria... our car was loaded to the brim with supplies for my child’s first Flat.

We eventually found the flat in Pretoria, after trying to break into a few flats, and we unpacked and had a rest. Then we drove around Joberg and C took me past houses in Noordheuwel that her Dad had been involved in building and I watched her enjoying the memories of a life she had lived before. We went to her father’s old house, and I remember at one point, we were stopped and a youngish man drove up, and asked what we were doing, and if he could help, in a neighbourhood watch type of way..... well Corne remembered him and asked if he remembered her and her Dad, he did and they chatted briefly. She discussed the construction of many houses that we stopped at. We went past houses that Corne had lived in herself, and she was inspecting the gardens and looking at trees and plants she had planted.

We went to Hekport Road and C pulled over, got out of the car and looked around, I watched as she happily absorbed the aura and relived memories that were fleeting across her face. She didn’t say much, she didn’t need to. I was just happy to observe her in a happy moment of thoughtful enjoyment of her life before. We went to a pizza shop that she ordered her favorite pizza from, it wasn’t on the menu, but it was a special that they would do. We went to a butchery that she loved and bought biltong. It really was a special trip.

I could feel that the visit had bought her great happiness. I know she really wanted to see her Aunt Coreen, she was hoping that we would meet up with her and she always spoke with love, admiration and happiness of a women that she considered to be like a mother to her. The visit was fleeting and sadly they never met up.

She drove me all over, telling me stories of so many different places.
We had a good time and I could tell Corne loved being there and it seemed to do her soul good, so we decided to go back to Joberg, after Christmas..... and that was entirely a different story J

Truly funny things happened although..... it was one of those trips from hell.... that you can only roar with laughter about after..... however, at the time, Everything that could go wrong went wrong!! J

But before driving back to Durban, we were having dinner and the phone was ringing, and we were tired and ignored the call.....

I drove home while Corne slept, I think the trip took us 10 – 12 hours, when she woke, she couldn’t believe the drive could take that long!! We were both exhausted when we got back and were desperately in need of rest, we got a call to say..... Someone we knew well had been arrested and Corne was sorting it out, giving excellent advise as she always did and i am sure that person was ever so grateful as if it hadn’t been for her, things would have been very different for them. That was the call we ignored. She was always willing to help!!

Over the next 2 weeks we had great fun at our Christmas party and then we were planning a 21st for my daughter, Corne wanted to do the music and the 2 of us were driving around collecting wild flowers on verges. I was driving and Corne was jumping out and cutting and bring back the flowers. Boy did we laugh and have fun with that.

After the 20th December, we went to Ushaka with the kids and had loads of fun tubing and racing, each of us had a child on our tube and the kids had a ball!! And we were planning Christmas Lunch.

Now when doing lunch with Corne, she was incharge!! I could see the joy on her face at taking control of the cooking, I could feel that she was reliving a time when she had cooked for a Dad, she so loved cooking! She meticulously planned 2 trifles and each was her pride and joy. Later Mandy told me that it was a tradition in their family to do trifles for Christmas. At the time, I could tell that making them bought her so much joy. ...

Now, Steve, a friend usually loved to cook, I warned him off, no one was to go near her turkeys. It was a fun and festive day, enjoyed by all, and one of the best Christmas’s ever!

I cannot remember what we did on the 26th as we were going to book for Corne to bungee jump off at Durban Stadium and we went to get tickets and then we didn’t. But we were planning on going back to Joberg on the 27th, so maybe we decided to pack and get ready.

I did have my reservations about the trip to Joberg, as the 2 kiddies were coming with and I did suggest we make another plan and rather stay with help, but I could tell that she was disappointed with that. She really was looking forward to going back to Joberg.....

Oh my goodness, that is a tale to tell, everything that could possible go wrong did.... I will definitely give that a story of its own!!

Written by Shelly