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| Wildebeest Willie was meandering down the road after a pleasant visit. |
“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”
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| Little and a mongoose getting along. Mongooses don’t eat pellets, so no competition for food. |
With only one month until we depart Marloth Park to head to Nelspruit to fly to Johannesburg and then on to Dublin, Ireland, after today, we’ll begin posting our favorite photos and videos from the past 14 months we’ve spent in South Africa.
Speaking of visa extensions, we haven’t heard anything yet from immigration. If we don’t by the time we’re due to leave, we’ll present the medical records and no doubt. They’ll let us go. It’s getting into a most difficult country, not getting out.
Suppose we’re considered “undesirables,” we may be prevented from returning to South Africa for three years. We’ll see how it goes and share the details here the following day.
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| Mongoose is trying to crack an egg. |
Our friends have asked…what if my legs aren’t better? How can we leave? My right leg is healed enough to be able to walk, while the left leg is problematic. If necessary, we’ll use a wheelchair at the various airports along the way, and once we arrive in Ireland, we’ll seek further medical treatment there if needed.
In other words, we’re leaving one month from today, and that’s all there is to it. I didn’t ever want to leave Marloth Park feeling as if we were anxious to go. After all, we are “world travelers,” and we aren’t seeing much of the world now.
Yes, I know, these unexpected and shocking series of medical woes and operations have thrown us off track, but once this left leg heals, nothing is holding us back from continuing. Every few years, I will arrange to see a cardiologist for a few tests to see how I’m doing.
My family, bless their hearts and good intentions, are adamant that we should return to the US, rent a place, and seek medical care. But, I refuse to be the perpetual patient and have absolutely no interest in moving to Scottsdale, Arizona, to be close to the Mayo Clinic.
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| A male bushbuck and a female duiker were sharing pellets. Duikers are the smallest antelopes in Marloth Park and Kruger National Park. |
Of course, we’ll be careful and most likely make our two to three-month stays in any country close to medical facilities if needed. We may not choose to live in the most remote areas of the world as we’ve done in the past. Nor will we limit ourselves to only visiting big cities.
There’s always a middle ground, always a compromise, and the world is a prominent place with so much we’ve yet to experience. I’m sure when we look back in years to come to these post-cardiac bypass years, we’ll have many beautiful memories with plenty of stories and photos to share with our worldwide readership.
The cardiac surgeon didn’t give me a good prognosis with the remaining bad arteries in my chest and around my heart, saying the surgery was a “band-aid,” a temporary fix. But, once any of us reaches our senior years, we have no idea how much time “we have left” and may choose to live every moment to the fullest. That’s precisely what we plan to do.
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| Kudus in the garden this morning. |
It becomes a question of quality instead of quantity, and we’ll always choose quality if that option is available to us. No doubt, sometimes it is not. But, all of us can decide how we want to live our lives, the so-called “golden years” that wouldn’t be so bright and shiny if we were feeling trapped living in a condo near a hospital.
We remain grateful and hopeful for the future. May you choose to do the same.
Photo from one year ago today, April 11, 2018:
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| For this heartwarming story that unfolded before our eyes, an ostrich family reuniting…please click here. Notice dad coming their way from a distance. |