I'm sure that holidays are better healers than any medicine.
I returned to Joburg and ordinary life after no less than seven weeks of holiday, feeling better than I have since before I started chemo 18 months ago.
Tim's long leave took us to the Maldives, Cape Town, Durban, Thula Thula (for that huge birthday), then to London. Tim, James and Ali had a week of skiing with Geoff, Tim's cousin, in France and I popped off to Dublin for a couple of days and had a merry time in England. Then, Tim and James returned home and Ali and I stayed on in London for yet another week. What absolute luck. This is living in the present and life in abundance.
My latest CT scan showed that the tumours had shrunk by a further 7%. This is particularly good news as the cancer tends to become nasty again after about 4 months. The trend is definitely in the right direction and I have another 3 months of happy living in hand.
The literacy program, that I'm so delighted with, is expanding at a rate. There are 3 new Link Centres opening in Johannesburg soon. I will attend training in Cape Town in March, which will allow our pilot Link Centre at Salvazione School in Brixton to be fully accredited. This will further our credibility with the Department of Education. Shine, our umbrella organisation, is the only NGO in SA that is allowed to interact with the children during teaching hours. The teaching makes my heart sing and I'm so enjoying the interaction with the people who are opening their own new centres. There is an extraordinary number of competent people who are willing to give their all to make a difference in the world.
Nicola is embracing life in London in her inimitable fashion. She has signed up for the London Marathon, works all hours and meets friends for coffee in the intervening minutes. She says she's been waiting her whole life for this. She is lucky to have our big, warm extended family there.
James is fully at the grindstone at UCT, doing his Graduate Diploma in Accounting. It's serious now.
Ali has had his first week of Medicine at Wits and loved every minute. What a blessing, he seems to be in the perfect place.
Tim is much restored after long leave. His treadmill seems to get faster and faster and he mainly loves the work he does.
I am so at peace and delighting at all the good fortune in my life. It has been an ongoing wonder to be present at so many of the occasions I thought I would miss. Not many are as delighted to be 50 as I!
