by Lisa-Jo | Jul 26, 2011 | Family, Inbetween, Marriage, Travel
We spent almost all of our first year together apart. This South African girl was stateside at college and her Midwest all-American guy was in Europe learning the ways of books older than either of us and cultures more ancient than the books. I made a strange...
by Lisa-Jo | Jul 25, 2011 | Family, Inbetween, South Africa, Travel
We’ve been back since Wednesday last week. We just finally finished unpacking tonight. And only because there was an assortment of my favorite jams, candies and cookies buried beneath the layers of clothes. Jet lag still has me hitting the sheets by 9pm and...
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by Lisa-Jo | Jul 22, 2011 | Family, Five Minute Friday, South Africa, Travel
On Fridays around these parts we like to write. Not for comments or traffic or anyone else’s agenda. But for pure love of the written word. For joy at the sound of syllables, sentences and paragraphs all strung together by the voice of the speaker. We love to...
by Lisa-Jo | Jul 18, 2011 | Family, South Africa, Travel
I lie in bed and hear them come clumping, laughing, stomping up the stairs. The weak, wintery African sun is just easing her way over the horizon and only children and dogs are brave enough to be up and at ’em this cold in the morning. “Come on,...
by Lisa-Jo | Jul 14, 2011 | Daughters, Family, South Africa, Travel
The year after my mother died I couldn’t sleep. I would dread bedtime, dragging feet toward the inevitable. Empty hours stretched ahead of me and I couldn’t see my way toward the sunrise; the night was dark and dense and filled with loneliness. I hated to be the only...
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by Lisa-Jo | Jul 12, 2011 | Family, South Africa, Travel
She’s the last patient of the day at my father’s medical practice and she’s pregnant with her first child. She’s polite. She nods in our direction. And she’s about to leave when my dad says, “you have to meet my daughter, Lisa-Jo.” She stops on a dime and her...
