Changing gears in Cape Town.

Last weekend I took a trip to Cape Town with my SA bestie, Melis. Both Melis and I have 2 very busy children, she has a boy and a girl and I have my 2 boys. We were both at the point where we NEEDED a break. Just to get away from parenthood, the responsibilities of being a wife and a mother, running the home… you know all that stuff that comes with the territory of little kids and husbands.

What we needed was a girl’s weekend. And we decided to take that weekend.  And boy what a weekend it was.

I had never been to Cape Town. So Melis decided that that was where we needed to go to switch off and have some fun.

My part of the trip was totally provided for and what a great blessing that was….. You know who you are!

Melis’ mum put us up in a beautiful hotel for the weekend and we were so excited about having this time away.

We flew to CT on the Friday afternoon and arrived in the early evening.  Our friend Jamie picked us up from the airport as she was joining us for our break.

As we were trying to find our hotel we took an unplanned detour through a very rough area of town.

I’m used to the rough areas of Durban and so it didn’t phase me too much. Melis and Jamie however were slightly worried…. To say the least ;-)

What I found as we were driving to our 5 star hotel, through a squatter camp community, was that I was feeling over whelmed with guilt and a burning desire to get out of the car and help.  At that point there was literally NOTHING I could have done that would have been of any help to anyone, I would have probably gotten mugged or worse and it was a stupid desire, but I couldn’t help it.

Some days I wonder if the life that I have lived thus far has ruined me forever. Will I EVER be “normal”?

Will I ever be able to see a need and not have a desperate desire to try and fill it? I know that the majority of the time it is not my job to fix the needs around me.  I KNOW what God has called me to do, and whom he has called me to help. I know what He requires of me. And yet…

Even when I am with my best friend away in a beautiful city for the soul purpose to switch off I STILL find it so very hard. While searching for our hotel I made a conscious decision to “switch off”. I had to if I was going to enjoy the weekend.

After making that decision I had an amazing weekend. On Saturday morning we went to the wonderful Charly’s Bakery where we went NUTS!!!!! We came away with cheesecake, cupcakes, brownies, petit fours, wicked chocolate cake, as I said we went NUTS!!!

We then took a walk along Long Street, which reminded me a lot of San Fran. Really lovely, lots of coffee shops.

(above pic just cause I'm an unrepentant fangirl and a mother of boys!)                                       

 Then we hit up a market. (You know how I love my markets!)

Jamie took us to a fantastic Mexican place for supper and then we went back to the hotel and were in bed by 8:30pm! Talk about old ladies! We were just so tired from all the walking and the late night on Friday.

Saturday we went to Muzinburg beach market, it was a great experience and I got to try dried Snoek for the first time. It was yummy. Melis and Jamie thought I was nuts… but that’s OK.

Then off to Kalk Bay for fish and chips, seal watching and a drive around the coast. 

Finishing off the night with Sushi with our lovely friend Adi.

We had such a fantastic time, if anything it wasn’t long enough! Could have done with about 2 extra days.

Spending time with my best friend, eating cake and going to markets…. Who could ask for more?

Some times its OK to change gear shut down and relax. I’m thinking that I should do it more often ;-)