Letters to my Grandchild

Hello Darling Em, Tammy’s stepfather passed away on 3 rd August. Tammy said that he wasn’t part of their lives for over a decade. He reached out to her a few days before you left and they had a nice chat for about an hour.   Granny Laura was responsible for sorting out all of his papers.   Two weeks later your Uncle Garth suddenly died.   Everyone was shocked as he was in good health and had a good job in Dundee. Its funny how things happen Em.   When your Aunt Candice left to go and live in the UK, Garth didn’t want Ben to leave South Africa to live with her.   But eventually she persuaded him and Ben did go to England.   What would have become of Ben if he had stayed with Garth?   Sometimes things happen for a reason. On 12 August you did your first Colour Guard performance.   Your folks put us on a video call so that we could actually watch you from the stand – even though it was on a small screen Tammy let us know that you were the girl with the flag 3 rd from the right.   16

  Hello my darling girl, I can’t believe that you have been in the US for a whole month already.   I still feel as though you have gone on an extended holiday and will be back soon!   On 1 st July you collected Ruby. Mark sent a message: "Very nice to have Rubes with us. We got back from fetching Ruby in LA at around 8.30pm and then missioned at Avis in San Diego until after 10.30pm (long story) so we only got to sleep after midnight. Still tired but going to have a more chilled day today. We have an apartment viewing at 1pm, we're doing grocery shopping and we're buying a crate for Ruby. Oh, and going to the bank to see if we can open bank accounts." You took Ruby to breakfast with you, pets are welcome in most places.   On 4 th July you went to breakfast at 1HOP where you ordered drinks and got three huge 1 pint glasses of juice – you said that they were the size of your head!   And your blueberry pancakes were also extra-large!     I was pleased to hear t

 Hello my darling! The months are flying by too quickly.  In a few weeks we'll be moving to our new cottage and you'll be flying to your new country! Mark had a farewell function with his team in La Lucia.   Apil/May has a full calendar of birthdays and anniversaries in our families.   29 April - Sharon's birthday and Greg and Sharon's wedding anniversary on 2 May.  (And on the same day Ruby got her Visa to go with you to America!)  15 May - Mark's birthday   26 May Gregs birthday  30 May Mark and Tammy's wedding anniversary.   On 10 June Jeff and Gail had a farewell party for you at Simbithi.   Only the ladies were allowed to say a few words this time. There were too many emotional men talking at Gumpie's 80th birthday and Gail and Tammy decided the ladies could do a better job! On 15 June we moved to the cottage in Doone Village.  You all came to help us unpack boxes and on Saturday we had a braai on our unfinished patio.  A few days before you left, the s