I only barely managed to get out the words, "Why thank you, you too!" And then I burst into tears. I couldn't decide if I wanted to crawl inside and hide in shame, or run across the yard and hug her for all that she was clearly worth.

I imagine that it might be the same feeling you would have if a soldier hunkered down under enemy fire, fighting for his life, wished you a Happy Veteran's Day as you were lighting up the grill and your kids ran around the yard in the sprinkler. Or if your Mom had just given you ten cookies, only to catch your greedy hand in the cookie jar yet again. It's just too much to handle. It's embarrassing. Maybe it would stop you in your tracks for a minute and make you think too.

It's just that those kinds of parallel events don't usually collide in front of you. They aren't supposed to exist in the same place at the same time. They should happen far apart, you know, so that you can think about the nature of juxtaposing situations from a safe philosophical distance, and contemplate exactly how one would navigate within such a vast contrast of circumstances.

But here? They happen in my own backyard, shoving me headlong out of philosophy and into actuality. And in actuality? She wished things for me that she doesn't yet have for herself.

Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. She had good things stored up in her heart towards me, and she doesn't even know me.

But I do believe that she knows something greater and deeper and truer about selflessness than I do. And about dignity. And about noble behavior. And about being a real life embodiment of the woman I endeavor to be.

And you know what? She reminds me of someone...

~

A wife of noble character who can find? 

She is worth far more than rubies.

Her husband has full confidence in her 

and lacks nothing of value. 

She brings him good, not harm, 

all the days of her life. 

She gets up while it is still night; 

she provides food for her family 

and portions for her female servants. 

She considers a field and buys it; 

out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. 

She sets about her work vigorously; 

her arms are strong for her tasks. 

She sees that her trading is profitable, 

and her lamp does not go out at night. 

She opens her arms to the poor 

and extends her hands to the needy. 

When it snows, she has no fear for her household; 

for all of them are clothed in scarlet. 

Her husband is respected at the city gate, 

where he takes his seat among the elders of the land. 

She makes linen garments and sells them, 

and supplies the merchants with sashes. 

She is clothed with strength and dignity; 

she can laugh at the days to come. 

She speaks with wisdom, 

and faithful instruction is on her tongue. 

She watches over the affairs of her household 

and does not eat the bread of idleness. 

Her children arise and call her blessed; 

her husband also, and he praises her: 

“Many women do noble things, 

but you surpass them all.” 

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; 

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. 

~

Happy Women's Day to you. May you be the kind of woman who is worthy to be praised. 

I crawled through an African cave today and lived to tell about it. No really, I did. It was really, really dark, really wet, and very scary.

And I don't do caves.

Just ask my Dad about that one time in the Catacombs...

This all started when my so-called "friends" Nadine & Stephen met me for hiking on Sunday afternoon. Since our original route did not allow for dogs on the trail, they suggested that we amend our plan and head closer to home to hike Boomslang, in Kalk Bay.

"Aww, how fun! Sunday afternoon hiking close to home, with good friends! What more could a girl ask for?" (Insert sarcasm here.)

Allow me to narrate the photos of our treacherous journey gone all wrong...

"What!?! Tree snakes? Tree snakes in caves? Caves with snakes in trees? Snake trees in caves? Cave snake trees?" You lost me at snake...

We had only gotten a few feet into the total-pitch-black-darkness when my feet hit ankle deep water.

"Uh-oh. Really? You want me to keep moving forward through mossy-wet-slippery-underwater-cave-river crossings?"

I was starting to feel my heartbeat pounding in my head and all I kept seeing in my mind was the scene from Indiana Jones with the rats... (Insert involuntary shudder.)

And do you know what ALWAYS happens in caves in movies? Only bad things happen. No good things ever happen. Ever. I mean, have you ever seen a movie that takes place in a cave in which butterflies-land-on-pretty-people-kissing-while-baby-unicorns-frolick-nearby-with-cute-cuddly-kittens?

"No!?! You haven't!?!" Me either. The only scenes I've ever seen in caves involve the scariest parts of The Goonies, Lord of the Rings and Huck Finn. So listen people... spoiler alert... someone always dies in the cave. It is a FACT. Not everyone is going to make it out alive.

At this point in my cave-fever-induced-irrational-out-loud-musings-about-how-movies-are-based-on-real life, my friend Stephen assured me that in the movies, the big black guy in the back always gets eaten first, so he figured I was pretty safe, since he was indeed a big black guy, and he was taking up the back.

Thank you Stephen, that is SO reassuring.

And then I saw bats less than a foot above my head. Blech. Shriek. Hurl. Gross. Eek.

I cannot take responsibility for anything that happened next.

I believe my exact words were: "Okay. That's it. I'm not kidding here people. I'm SO done."

But unfortunately for all my girly squeamishness, there was no other way out than onward through the mountain, so onward we went. I lost track of time and my reasons for living, but after what seemed like twelve eternities and an light-decade-eon later we arrived at the last stretch of the cave...

Did I mention that we were in a cave? With creepy crawly scary things that go "boo" in the night? And maybe dead bodies? And wet drippy things that fall on your head? And that the last stretch of the cave is a tunnel? Like, a really, really, small tunnel that you have to crawl through in which THINGS are guaranteed reach out and touch you? Eeewwwww.

I only recall begging and pleading for my life once, but the night-vision video on my friend Stephen's phone might testify otherwise. Just for the record, you would scream too if you had to put your hands down into unknown-cavernous-sub-terrainean-ground-like-substances-that-felt-like-mucky-wet-dirty- quicksand-and-belly-crawl-for-at-least-100-yards-to-save-your-own-life... as I obviously reckoned I was doing.

It was not fun. It was not pretty. It was not quiet. You COULD feel sorry for my companions, but they are the ones that got us into this whole mess.

I just figured that the faster I crawled and the louder I cried, whined and moaned about it, the sooner it would all be over.

The good news for you is that I lived to exaggerate blog about it.

Ahhh, but after a few breaths of fresh air, a few long sighs of relief, and some shaky nervous laughter, I came to realize that I was fairly proud of myself for holding it together, and hanging in there like a true champ.

Well... I mean... Err...it probably depends on your definition of "holding it together."

I was just happy that I didn't pee in my pants.

It's the small things we need to appreciate in life people. The small things.

In retrospect, I am now able to say that we had a fantastic time. We shared some really good laughs, albeit most of them at my expense, but I would totally do it again. And really, after you conquer the cave there are some amazingly majestic views that I might never have seen otherwise, as clearly there is no way I would have ever done this on my own.

In the end, it was all worth it, and thanks to my sacrifice, you can enjoy the virtual views from the safe distance of your home computer, having never almost died in a cave. So, you're welcome.

Man, the things I do for you people...

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On your average Saturday morning in Cape Town you will find about 2,000+ trendy type people wandering around in a small square of town called the Old Biscuit Mill. Remember, biscuits are what South African's call cookies, so basically it's an old cookie factory. Like most developers in America, somebody got real smart and decided to renovate this downtown space into a shopping center with high end designer stores, tucked away antique venues and hideaway spaces for artists and offices.

While the shopping at the O.B.M. is unique, and it's always fun to take a peek at the offered wares, the real gem is hidden under a giant white tent surrounded by hay bales to the right of the square. Each week hundreds of local food vendors show up to make their specialty food items, and for a few bucks you can literally eat your way around the world with all the different ethnic cuisine varieties offered. 

Portuguese BBQ skewers, German style hot-dogs, New York style bagels, Asian stir-fry, Dutch pancakes, French macaroons & tarts, Indian curry dishes, Spanish paella, Italian style pizza, homemade lemonade and much, much more! It's the most amazing variety of food you have ever seen in one place and you can sample just about all of it. After you have sampled all the dishes and viewed all your edible options, it's time to formulate a plan, and let me tell you, it's important to go in with a food eating strategy, lest you end up with no money and a bad tummy-ache later.

I try to get something different every time I go, but sometimes it's hard to resist my standby favorites.  This last time around, rather than picking one big food item like I normally do, I tried to combine a bunch of small things.  For my main meal, I had Greek lamb souvlaki, followed by a Japanese paper veggie spring roll and a granadilla & strawberry smoothie made from local fruit. Dessert was a Turkish espresso shot, a homemade honeywine chocolate cup and a Norwegian gingerbread man. Uh-mazing. I'm so glad I branched out. Mhm mhm good. Lots of people get take-aways for their next meal, but I'm usually to stuffed to think about ever eating again.

It can get a little crazy with 2000+ people in a small space, but it definitely has a fun family feel to it and awesome live music. You never know who you will find yourself sitting next to on the long wooden benches and many a conversation starts with a chat to the stranger next to you about where they found their specialty food item...

"Where did you find THAT?"

"At the back of the second tent, third stall down from the beer guys on the left."

"THANKS!"