Resolving current issues…Letting go…

Undoubtedly, all of this has added to the stress and concern over my recent triple coronary bypass surgery. Add the fact that our two debit/ATM cards have been issued and then re-issued when on two occasions they’ve been lost in the mail and by Fex Ex International according to our bank in the US.

Currently, we’re living in a foreign country with no working debit/ATM card and have no way to access our bank accounts for cash. We reordered the cards yesterday to be sent to our mailing service in Nevada, and we’ll have them ship them to us via overnight delivery by DHL. 

Frank and The Mrs. sharing pellets with the guineafowl who’ve recently returned to our garden after being away for a few months.

In reality, there’s no such thing as overnight delivery here in South Africa. We expect it will take a week to receive them. I could go on and on about other recent issues primarily fueled by incompetence and neglect by various entities. Still, the reality remains clear in my mind. It’s time to let all of this go and return to the issue of our happy, fulfilling lives on the move.

We always knew that health issues would halt our travels either permanently or for a while at some point. The period occurred upon us on February 2nd when Dr. Theo did an exercise stress test on me to discover I had severe heart disease a mere two months ago.

It’s been a whirlwind since that date, a whirlwind of surgeries, complications, tons of medications, and an amount of worry and concern experienced by both of us.

Even when we tried to check into this hospital on Friday, we sat at the check-in counter with a rep calling our credit card company, wondering why the above-referenced ZAR 130000, US $8967, charges for prepaying this portion of the bill when we knew the card was sound. 

Mom and Baby mongoose huddled together on the lookout for food.

After a stressful hour sitting at that desk, wondering what we were going to do, only to discover that the handheld credit card machine wasn’t working, with a different device, it went through in seconds. After all, TIA (this is Africa). We should have known. 

Within hours I was in “theatre” having surgery on my legs. I may go in for a second surgery, depending on the results of the culture done after the last surgery. We’ll see how it goes.

In any case, it’s time to let all of this go, to focus on recovery, to focus on the opportunity we’ve been given to continue to live our dream. In a mere 41 days, we’ll leave for Ireland to live in a lovely home on the sea in beautiful historic Connemara. 

What an excellent way to roll into the next phase in our travels, a little wiser, a little more cautious, and a lot more grateful than we ever imagined possible. In the past, our gratefulness revolved around the opportunity to travel the world and make it work financially; to have one another to share it with; to have the ability and resourcefulness to cohesively make it meaningful and important as it enriched our lives.

Kudu, bushbuck, and wildebeests were relaxing in the garden.

But, now the gratefulness has gone beyond the above in an entirely new way…the gratitude for another day of life having dodged not a bullet, but a cannonball that gives me, gives us, another chance.

What we do with this chance is entirely up to us; we can treasure it as the gift it is, or we can fall back into our pleasant routine of planning, booking, and traveling. We chose the “gift” for all that it represents, for all that it inspires within us, and for all that we’ll share along the way.

Thank you for being on this journey with us. In many ways, it’s just begun.

Photo from one year ago today, March 31, 2018:

She’d nibble on the pellets, but we never saw him take a single bite.  He was more interested in her than he was in snacking. For more details, please click here.