If anyone owns a Chromebook, you know how difficult it is to manipulate and edit photos. Oh, what I’d give to have my old Windows 8 laptop (we didn’t like Windows 10, either) with the ability to make folders on the desktop, to store and easily edit photos. To become proficient at these processes requires an entirely new learning curve. And, although I am a reasonably quick study when it comes to digital equipment, my level of interest in learning this cumbersome process escapes me.
At this point, I am only interested in savoring our surroundings, taking and sharing photos of our stunning discoveries, preparing our daily posts, and cooking a quick and easy meal on the gas grill (Tom does this part while I prep the food). With the excellent help of Zef and Vusi, we don’t have to clean, make the bed, sweep, dust, clean bathrooms, or even do laundry since they do it all.
Right now, I have the washer going with one load of two I’ll do today to lessen the amount of wash they’ll be doing. Everything in our luggage, which we never unpacked in India, smells musty and must be washed. A few days ago, they did almost half of it. They fold so much better than I do, so it’s nice to hand it over.
It’s not as if we did much in those ten months in the hotel, other than hand washing our clothing. Had we handed it over to the hotel to do, it would easily have cost us a fortune, as much as US $100, ZAR 1527, a week. Our clothing survived, and we’re no worse for the wear (no pun intended).
Speaking of “no worse for the wear,” when talking with my friend Chere in Minnesota last night while Tom and I sat on the veranda, sipping an adult beverage and waiting for more wildlife, she suggested we write about how we feel about our India experience, what we learned in those ten months and how we can use those lessons going forward. Great suggestions, Chere.
However, at this point, having dwelled on the challenges of that extended lockdown with our readers for months, we’re both ready to put it behind us, as we’re confident our readers prefer to do as well. The only thing we learned about ourselves (sorry, we aren’t more insightful) was that our level of determination to get back to our happy place far superseded our discomfort in that hotel room.
Now, we are pleased with ourselves for doing exactly what we wanted to do to ensure we’d get here, 59 hours of travel and all. No regrets. Not a one. For us, it just goes to prove if we want something bad enough, sheer will, determination, and careful planning can pave the way for us to achieve our goals.
We aren’t heroes. We aren’t brave. There’s nothing special about us. We wanted something important to us, and we were willing to wait for it. That’s what we learned. I suppose, in a way, we knew this all along. After all, we gave up our familiar lives to fulfill a dream of a lifetime.
And now, here in Marloth Park, unencumbered with responsibility, other than to share our photos and stories with each of our worldwide readers daily, life is once again uncomplicated and straightforward. Of course, right now, we’re anxious for the 14-day self-quarantine to pass from those scary 59 hours with nine days remaining of quarantine as of today.
Once that ends, we’ll be even more excited to be here, of course, while continuing to exercise strict adherence to Covid-19 safety protocols.
An inspiring post will be upcoming tomorrow when we had a terrifying visit from a predator! Please check back then and brace yourself, as we did!
Happy day!
Photo from one year ago today, January 18, 2020:
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| Two years ago today, we visited Kruger National Park to see this elephant family crossing the road with a few babies protected by the parade. For more photos, please click here. |