14 Years Worth of Catching Up

If you've been hanging around this little old blog of mine for longer than 0.24 seconds, you'll know that my family is really important to me. I have a massive family and we're very blessed to live in the same community, for the most part. Both the majority of my Dad's side of the family as well as Clauds' all live within 20km's of each other. This means that I'm always surrounded and supported by them. Our house is rarely just filled with my parents and siblings - 90% of the time there's an aunt or a couple of cousins running around as well.

I could never truly explain just how much I've needed my family over the course of my life and just how much they've been there for me. The thing that always baffles me is the fact that I'm not biologically related to most of them, and yet it feels as though there could never be another bunch of people more perfectly fit for me. Clauds and my Dad married when I was 12. Not only did I gain the most incredible step mother who loves and adores me without any questions asked or conditions, but I gained an entire extended family too. I'm a lot closer with Clauds' side of the family than I am with my Dad's side of the family. That's probably because my Dad's sister, my aunt Kerry, her husband and her two children live in Brisbane, Australia.

I was very close with both of my cousins. They emigrated when I was 6 and returned to South Africa for a holiday when I was 7 in 2001. That was the last time I saw them. Almost 14 years ago. Over the years we have kept contact - we would write letters to each other and send them via snail mail and as we've gotten older and technology has advanced, we've kept up with each other's lives via Facebook, Instagram, email and Skype.

Taken just before they emigrated - my cousin Wesley, my sister Bridgitt, cousin Jess, me and Kerry giving us all a good scrub.

My Gran lives right next door to us on the farm and so we're lucky enough to see her every day. Once a year she travels to Australia and spends 6 weeks or so with my aunt and her family. I've always been jealous of her annual visits and I wish that our family had the extra cash and time to load all 44 million (slight exaggeration. Maybe) of us onto a plane so that we could spend some time with them.

A couple of months ago my aunt organised a trip back home. She and the rest of her family were finally, after 14 long years, going to head back to South Africa for a holiday. Things didn't work out quite as planned - my uncle couldn't get off of work and my cousins are busy varsity students like myself. Eventually my aunt decided that if she doesn't do this now, who knows how much longer it will be before she is able to see her family again. And so with that thought in mind, she booked a ticket back home and we collectively decided to keep it a secret from my gran.

My brother and sister with Kerry the last time she was in South Africa.

For months I've been so excited to see my aunt, but none of us have been able to voice our excitement for fear of ruining the surprise, but finally, the time has come. My aunt landed on Friday and just about gave my gran a heart attack. She's home for a couple of weeks, but just as luck would have it, these next couple of weeks of mine are some of the busiest of the academic year. I can skip lectures, no problem. But these next two weeks are loaded with compulsory tutorials, tests and assignment hand ins. I've managed to juggle a couple of things here and there and will be heading home later this week for a few days.

The last photo I had with my cousins in 2001.

It's horrible to sit here in my little Res room with a bunch of assignments to be done while my whole family is back home catching up with one another. I feel like I'm missing out, but I know I'll be home in a couple of days. I'm so excited. Distance is a horrible thing. My bags are already packed, I've just got to get through three tests before I can pull out of my parking spot at 3am and make the trek back home.