…was the somewhat ominous comment I put on this photo from November 2008. But there were no actual serious injuries that day.
That’s little 0.6 being swung by my Mum and me at De Mond nature reserve down in Cape Agulhas. It was a blisteringly hot day, which is why 5-month-old K-pu was sensibly sheltering under a tree somewhere back at the car park.
For the record, Alex is now 11½ and his sister has just turned 9. Shoulder injuries and medical bills would be much more likely these days.
When someone close leaves your life, they’re never really “gone”. Memories, jogged by photographs or visits or sounds or dates – or whatever – are always there.
I could easily be walking along that sandy track next to my Mum right now: she’s counting up to 3, for Alex’s next short flight. We’re watching the terns take flight through the heat haze. We’re listening to the crickets in the grass. We should really have brought some more water along. It is – as I mentioned before – really hot. The still air is thick. Alex wants another swing.
And then back to the weirdest, dodgiest self-catering place in all of Arniston (possibly even in all of South Africa).
And this is just one moment, on one afternoon, on one day. There’s literally a lifetime of other memories, each just waiting to be accessed.
She’d want us to remember it all, from the mundane to the unusual. And I do. Most every day.
