Supersonic with a few stones

It's been almost a month since I last posted. My sister-in-law, who I love dearly but who should know better - actually sent me a message asking why I hadn't been updating my blog recently, and so here is my answer:

The Past Week:

Monday:

1. Screech around Joburg shopping for various SA essentials such as Mypradol, chefs clogs and Maldon Salt, as well as emptying the post box, visiting doctors (B12 injection) and banks and the usual endless list of things which admittedly is getting shorter every trip.
2. Fly from Johannesburg to New York (16 hours). I just knew the trip was going to go pear-shaped when I did not have the requisite screaming baby behind me, but seemingly inconsolable TWINS. Anyway I watched the absolutely brilliant "The Descendants", 5 episodes of Downton Abbey, read my Steve Jobs biography and took a Stillnox, which actually made for a reasonably good trip despite the endless screaming and sobbing that accompanied it.   

Tuesday:

1. Arrived at JFK to be told that even though I had missed my connecting flight to San Juan, it had also been cancelled in the meantime so "sorrrrrry for yoooou". After some tantrums and tears (mine this time) I managed to get on a flight 4 hours later, after working my way through most of Hudson News. I then spent another 5 hours at San Juan, as my re-scheduled flight was also cancelled/delayed/forgotten about and I finally got back to Tortola pretty late on Tuesday evening. It was lovely to see the boys again.  

Wednesday:

1. Up crack of dawn and back into the school lunchbox-hat-shoe-breakfast-library-book-nightmare-routine that is Modern Parenthood and staggered in to work. Boys had their school sports day which required 2 hours of standing in the sun watching kids scream "Go Dolphins Yeah" etc, which frankly is my worst. I know I should be more enthusiastic but I used to hate my own sports days so I'm unlikely to start loving them 30 years later, am I?
2. Collapse at home with splitting headache and a husband who wasn't feeling well. Survey the millions of boxes that constitute our life and the fact that I can find all the clothes from 20 years ago (including my matric dance dress) but nothing from the past 5. 
3. Have terrible night as Tyler gets more and  more sick.

Thursday

1. Awake to a very sick husband who cannot get out of bed and who is looking grey, sweating profusely and groaning in agony.
2. Find a 20 year old skirt, make breakfast and school lunches, push children into car and drive them 30 minutes to school. Go to work, visit husband and say goodbye to a good classmate of James's
3. Come home to find an even sicker husband who has been on the Internet and has diagnosed himself with kidney stones.
4. Make dinner, tidy Train Smash House (superficially) and collapse into bed early.

Friday

1. Attend James's play of Midsummer's Night Dream where he is Puck. This had made us late in the morning, as we had to make sugar-water spiky hair and find glitter to make him "Sprite-like'. Want to brain him as he could have bloody mentioned this a few days ago. 
2. Attend 3 hour architects meeting for our new offices. Want to brain myself after that.
3. Get back into the office and try and do some real work in the remaining few hours.
4. Slug back a Red Bull
5. Tyler digs deeper into the newly repatriated Mypradol.
6. Attend farewell party for the Bates and Williams on Cane Garden Bay. Sad.
7. Meet up with old SA friends - Grant & Lee who are here from N. Carolina to sail. Have lovely evening at Charlies. Everyone falls asleep in the car on the way home.
8. Dream of a quiet weekend, doing very little apart from selling raffle tickets at the Spring Regatta and reading. Maybe unpack the odd box or two.

Saturday

1. Awake to a deathly pale husband who says, for the very first time in our marriage, that he needs to see a doctor.
2. Try not to be selfish, but realise that my quiet weekend has probably gone for a ball of sh*t.
3. Drop off Tyler at Peebles (who confirm it is kidney stones) and do a massive Riteway shop to delude myself that we will not need to go to a supermarket until just before Easter.
4. Make lunch, push boxes around, clean kitchen, feel rather deflated and then finally get call to pick up Tyler from hospital.
5. On the way to pick him up, run out of petrol (as had forgotten to look at petrol gauge).
6. Get home and heroically have a braai. Everyone in bed by 9:30pm.

Sunday

1. Sleep in
2. Finish book
3. Make lunch
4. Go down to Nanny Cay and sell raffle tickets for Youth Development Sailing
5. Drink 1 glass of champagne
6. Come home and make supper
7. Tidy kitchen
8. Write blog.

As you can see Lisa, I think I can honestly say, without too much exaggeration that I have not had a nano-second. Plus we still don't have a new laptop yet or wireless or flipping anything really. The house is just a large space with piles of stuff everywhere for now - but that is what long Easter weekends are for. Unpacking boxes and eating chocolate.

My trip back to SA was good. The Gawith-Legh party was brilliant. I did a lot of arm-waving dancing and was rebuked for refusing to go home after 2 polite offers of lifts. My reasoning was since I had travelled the furtherest, I could stay the longest, but that's probably pushing it. I do love a good party and am hard to stop after several bottles of Graham Beck (is the real reason).

We also had a fabulous Book Club which warms my little Taurean heart, as I can almost delude myself that not much has changed and Transatlantic living is fairly seamless. But it's not and I can't and on this trip I did have to come to the hard realisation that we are all moving on, including me. Having said that, 4 trips in 16 months has been pretty luxurious but also a bit gruelling - so I am going to be pulling back now to twice a year - which I think will be more manageable on everyone - the kids, the hosts, the families and will also mean that I wont have an excuse to be the last person on the dance floor.

Tyler is now feeling a bit better (he had ultra-sound) and we are compiling our endless list of things to do for the bakery, the house, our lives, Easter and for me - work. It's all feeling a bit overwhelming but we are on a roll (or should I say Hot Cross Bun - hahahah) and it's all good. It's still beautifully cool here on the island and the boys are now on Spring Break for 2 weeks. We have Easter next weekend at home. It is wonderful to have Tyler around again (I've seen more of him in this short week than we'd had all year) and once I find my clothes I'll be really happy again.