Nothing Better than Friendship...

What a joy it was to have one of my best friends visiting with her husband and son late Friday through to yesterday.  We have known Dot and James since Mark was a youngster and often hospitalized for lung infections.  I was honoured to be asked by them 18 years ago, if I would be Godmother to their son Patrick. Now taller than both Johan and I and finished with school, he has come to Pretoria to start an engineering degree at university.

Dot is now the school nurse at one of the private schools in Pietermaritzburg, but at the time of meeting her, she was a nursing sister in one of the children's wards at Greys' Hospital.  I remember so clearly the day she met me in the passage way of the ward and said she had some news to tell me....well before she could say anything I said to her - 'you are pregnant?'  She thought someone else had already told me as that was precisely what she was going to say.  Not too many months later, Alice was born, then came Patrick and lastly Emily.  Alice has just started her fourth year of medicine, Patrick, as I said is starting his first year of engineering and Emily is in Grade 10 at school.

Dot and James have been really good friends to us over the years and of late Dot spends much of her time organizing fund raisers for NiQi's trust fund.  When we were still in Pietermaritzburg, Dot and I met weekly at her home for tea and a chat...I miss those days...and every now and then when we think of each other we will communicate to each other via our cell phones that we are putting the kettle on for a cuppa...lol

So having them here this weekend was lovely and although the time was short, after the terror of the last few days, it was a welcome distraction....

Dot and I

dot with one of the baby bunnies

Patrick holding another bunny