'home'

we are both back to the work-eat-sleep scenario that people have been mistakenly calling 'real life'. and although this sedentary existence lacks the romance of sleeping on bar floors and getting lost in bandit country...it has it's own charms. luke and i are both enjoying our work and settling nicely into the harding community. our home is a gem out in the forest with wood floors and big kitchen for me to putter around barefoot in while luke drives himself mad trying to eradicate every drip and squeak. the whirlwind of the last few weeks is already feeling like a lifetime ago as we settle into our version of domestic bliss.
but for those of you that missed it:
our wedding was completely us and completely africa, reminding ourselves and our guests that the best planning you can do is to plan to be surprised and roll with it. we picked out a spot on the beach for the service, a spot on the grass for the reception and then watched as the clouds rolled in and threatened to drench the entire show. the saturday before the wedding can be described as nothing less than a torrential downpour. we tried to go enjoy the beach and few went diving while the rest of us huddled in the monsoon, rivers of warm rain creating pools in our laps. people tried to convince me it would be fine. we thought about making another plan. my mum went out and bought an army of umbrella's. it continued to pour. the morning of the wedding i was woken up by luke and his sisters bounding onto my bed to shout about blue sky and sunshine! we were beside ourselves with relief as we set up the banquet table on the dewy grass, drinking in the sun's warmth. just as guests started to arrive, the storm on the horizon began to make its way to us and luke hurried everyone down to the beach under gathering clouds and strengthening winds, desperate to get hitched before the rain returned. once everyone was gathered, nervously eyeing the sky, we started the ceremony and i was greeted by the parting clouds and a brilliant ray of sunshine just for us. we laughed and sang our way through the whole show and rejoiced in God's sense of timing and humor. our beloved guests ate out on the grass and shared in our happiness until it was time to leave them and drive off in the vehicle that started it all. everyone said the entire wedding had a feeling of intimacy and authenticity, having been stripped of tradition and pretense, which is what we were aiming for. we wanted the main feature of the wedding to be the love we share with our family and friends, rather than the dress.
our honeymoon was highlighted by a gift from dad that saw us taking in 3 breathtaking days at a private game reserve, staying in the most jaw-dropping lodges i have ever seen. at the crack of dawn we would go on game drives where our ranger would cruise right into the bush to step on the toes of animals that few people will ever see. we laughed like maniacs and took a million pictures through acacia-dotted savannah that reminded us of where we fell in love, and where both our hearts still reside. at dusk we would do another drive that would last well after nightfall and whenever we weren't staring into the golden eyes of the king of the beasts, we were eating like kings ourselves. go. to. phinda game reserve.
we surprised no one by coming off honeymoon early, excited to get settled into our house. in the last year alone we have been travelling almost non-stop and have seen 7 countries together. we've had the kind of experiences that most couples only speak wistfully about and never scrape up the actual desire to realize. we, however, have been dreaming of owning an alarm clock for once. we are excited to be going to work, grocery shopping, doing household repairs, making mundane decisions about monotonous chores. bliss. more importantly we are happy to be plugged into a community. luke grew up here (and swore to never live here) so we already know most of the people and are being warmly embraced. luke's new job is challenging and promising, mine is different everyday and we are both enjoying having a high level of autonomy and freedom to develop our own ideas. work doesn't even feel like work because we are busy doing what makes us come alive, and it's only when we're alive and buzzing that we're of any use to the world. its wonderful to be being productive but africa still weighs heavy on our hearts, and the rest of the world whispers in the background. who can say how long this 'real life' business will last before we get back to really living.
cc