My cousin Caron got married this past Saturday, March 25, and it was the perfect ending to my more than memorable 5 months in South Africa. Legendary 5 months. I'm talking "should-go-down-in-the-record-books" status here. And it meant so much to spend my last night in Cape Town celebrating Caron's marriage with (nearly) my whole family, I'm so happy that my dad and I were there to be a part of everything.
Saturday was the culmination of about 9 months of hard work on the part of my aunt Beth and Caron, and everything turned out beautifully. It was such a family wedding, everyone had a part. Beth's sister Catherine baked the wedding cake,
my uncle John and aunt Lindsay did the flower arrangements,
Beth sewed the wedding dress AND the 2 bridesmaids' dresses,
AND all the decorations were hand-made by a variety of people. I helped with bits and pieces, like sewing the lavender heart sachets for the guests' gifts, writing out table placements, cooking, helping decorate the wedding cake,
and helping to set up on the morning of the wedding. Kind of like a manic jack of all trades, I suppose. Things did get a little crazy when we had 40 family members over for a braai the night before the wedding, but it was all worth it!
Even my little cousins Tom and Fletcher had a job:
Best of all, I loved spending time with my uncles at the wedding (all 5 brothers reunited), I was surprised at how well the Lowes cleaned up. My dad even wore a tie, and I swear it wasn't because I made him! I didn't even know what he was wearing until I met up with him at the wedding.
Look at that! A tie. So proud.
My uncle Paul, father of the bride, and his Saartjie (that's me)
Simon, me, and John. That's 4/5! Sadly I didn't get the chance for a photo with Patrick.
But it was a great night, and it made my millions of goodbyes the next day the hardest of my life. I'm going to miss all of my family so much, they feel like parents and siblings rather than aunts, uncles, and cousins. I've never been surrounded by so much family for such an extended time in my life, and now I understand why people tend to gravitate towards their hometown, where their families are. It's like a catch 22: the more you time you spend with far-away family the more you connect with them; but the more you connect with them, the harder it is to exist far away. I'm willing to handle the sadness, though, because I wouldn't trade the relationships we've created for anything. To say that I want to go back to South Africa again as soon as possible is a massive understatement, and I really hope it happens in the next few years!
On top of missing my family, I'm also really going to miss South Africa, the country. Yes, I will dream about rusks, homemade muesli, biltong, fish braai's, and fresh papaya, because I'm always thinking about my stomach. But even more so I'm going to miss the indescribably beautiful landscapes, and the laid-back, yet proud, people. Look at these sights that I've seen, and tell me it's not the most beautiful place you can imagine:
I'm going to miss it.
No comments:
Post a Comment