My Mom has come to South Africa for a visit. She arrived late on Monday evening. Hard to believe she has already been here almost a week! It goes too fast, She hasn’t been here since July 2010. And I haven’t been to the USA since BFB. That means ‘before Facebook’ so I can’t look at a folder of pics to determine the date but it was most likely 2005?

It’s quite the trip from Atlanta Georgia to SA and it’s very expensive so it’s not easy for her to come here and I can’t afford to fly all of us to the US, not to mention trying to coordinate all of us getting time off of work and Uni etc. so I am really happy to have her with us.

The 1st week of her trip I was still at work, so Lily and Caitlin and Norm looked after her during the day and in the evenings we all hung out. Tuesday Lily and Caitlin cooked as I was exhausted from staying up late after Mom arrived. We just relaxed at home and chatted and spent time together.

The girls went to Foo Fighters on Wednesday night, so Norm and I took Mom for the best burgers in Cape Town at Ragafellows. We had a lovely evening and she loved the burgers.

The girls had an amazing night too, so everyone was happy!

The next day Lily came to George with her boyfriend Josh and Cait was attending a wedding with her boyfriend Victor, so I took Mom along to my bookclub Christmas party. We decided to do something different and chose to go for pottery painting at the Clay Cafe, so we drew our secret Santa names and chose an item and painted it for the person we drew. We took our own bottles of champagne and white wine and bought pizzas there. It was such fun, even though I have no skills I enjoyed it. That’s my efforts there with the dots, once fired it should be a deep red inside and a dark blue outside.

I can’t wait to see them when they are finished.

By Friday Mom was feeling a bit tired from the journey catching up to her as well as our itinerary and all the late nights and so we just chilled out and ordered take aways from our fave Italian and rented a movie.

Saturday we were up early, loaded the car and were off to Mop for me to get my hair done at 930 am. Caitlin went off to find some breakfasts for us and came back with some delicious croissants filled with ham and cheese. Mom has had a knee replacement recently and could not manage the stairs up to the upper floor so she and Cait waited downstairs for me. The funny thing was that Cait had her hair done on Tuesday so Mom and Lily tagged along and they did the same thing. I am sure the staff there thought my Mom was a secret shopper or some crazy lady who only eats in hair salons. She watched one guy Rob cut hair for 2 days and decided he looked so talented she would book in with him even though she doesn’t really need a cut, so she is back in there next week. Hilarious.

After my hair appointment we were on the road down the coast to George, about 4-5 hours away. We arrived late afternoon at my son Trevor and his gorgeous girlfriend Amber’s house. Unfortunately Amber is away working and couldn’t be there. We miss her.

We tried to get Mom to take a pic of me with Trevor and Caitlin but photo taking is not one of her skills. But it made us pack up laughing, I tried to maintain for the sake of a decent pic. It was funny and best appreciated seen all in sequence.

Last night we all went to dinner at Joplin’s in Wilderness. It is just opposite the stunning beach. It is owned by Rose, Amber’s mom and has the best steaks ever. They keep the menu simple and serve steaks of any cut, cooked in garlic butter and topped with a fried egg and served with chips or salad.

These steaks are good enough to make you weep with pleasure.

My kid’s father, Hugh, my ex-husband also joined us. That was a milestone for me. We had a tumultuous relationship and nasty divorce. This is the 1st time in almost 20 years that we sat at the same table. It was relaxed and easy. I think we have both put all the past behind us finally. This was a huge shift.

I couldn’t see this pic last night, I am a bit sad that Caitlin has her eyes closed but this is Mom, Caitlin and Hugh.

And me with Trevor.

We had a brilliant night, drank too much wine and had far too many shots of Milktarts! A delicious sweet shot with condensed milk, vodka and nutmeg.

My Mom is staying with Caitlin at Hugh’s and I am staying at Trevor and Amber’s. We all went off and then I fell asleep almost the minute I was horizontal.

It is so wonderful spending time with my Mom and my kids. This is what life is all about. I am a happy Kitten.