If you read my last blog, I mentioned our house mother that we’ve had for the past week.
This lady volunteered her home to us, free of charge so we didn’t have to sleep on the church floor.
She is 63 years old, widowed for 10 years, and an extremely strong spiritual woman. Her house is always full of kids for swim lessons, after school programs, and people meeting together for various activities. I don’t think she ever sleeps. She has more energy than anyone I’ve ever met, and speaks exactly what she is thinking. Throughout the week, she included us in all her community groups, and blessed us more than we could imagine.
The last night we were there was quite an adventure. It was 9:30 pm, we had just left a potjie (South African dish/barbeque) and were exhausted. Our bed time is usually 8:30 pm on the race, so it was already late. But to mama, the night was just getting started. Let me walk you through the events that took place.
9:30pm- rabbit hunting. For the next hour we drove through the back roads of Groblersdal searching for rabbits with our headlights. In the event that we saw one, our instructions were to run after them as fast as you could and catch them by their ears. BUT make sure you held them at arm’s length from you, otherwise they could pee on you. We drove back and forth, turned down several dirt roads, and scoured the brush. Unfortunately we only saw one rabbit and he was too quick for us.
10:30pm- we took a drive through town. After accidentally running a stop sign, she decides to race the car next to us. This 63 year old woman is wild. No worries, we smoked them.
11:00pm- we arrived back at the house and could barely keep our eyes open. So what did we do? Of course it was coffee time. She instructed us to go get our blankets while she made coffee and we sat around the pool eating dessert and sharing stories.
12:00 am- MOVIE TIME. Her favorite movie is Devil Wears Prada. So at midnight, we started the movie. Amazingly, we all stayed awake through the whole thing. In some ways she reminds me of Meryl Streep’s character (only in her fabulousness and fashion sense).
2:00 am- the movie is finally over and we are all racing to bed. Incredibly, I still don’t think she went to sleep. She could have stayed up all night.
Mama had a never ending sense of energy. She spoke her mind. She loved everyone and she gave unconditionally. I feel blessed to have met her and she will always be in our hearts.
