We are officially Capetonian's again...

Many people haven't fully understood my affliation to Cape Town, my adopted home town and why being away from it was so painful and why coming back has meant so much to me.  I haven't been able to fully understand it myself.  So I hope I can find the words to try and explain.  I was born in Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe and moved to South Africa to start school.  For various reasons, we moved around a lot throughout my childhood.  I went to a total of 12 schools and settling down long enough in one place, never really happened.  We lovingly joke that we have gypsy blood running through our veins but in all seriousness, I think there was a bit of truth to it.  I felt nomadic.  After some time overseas, I came back to South Africa and settled, I do believe for the first time in my life, in Cape Town.  It's honestly the longest I had ever spent in one town and I loved that fact.  It's the place I married the man I love, quietly on the beach and where I had my two beautiful girls.  I guess if you have never lived a nomadic lifestyle, finding a home may not even be something that enters your mind.  But when it is something you have been searching for for the longest time, and feel you found. Giving that up just wasn't easy for me.

Four years ago we gave it up for a work contract in Johannesburg.  I thought I would adjust.  But I actually didn't.  In fact, I have to admit that big city living just wasn't for me or my family, for that matter.  At the end of 2010 while we were holidaying in Plett, we finally admitted that we hadn't integrated well and how much we were missing the coast.  It was the outdoors lifestyle and the simplicity that we found here that was now seriously missing from our lives.  We came to the realisation that we were not only suffering from burnout but perhaps even a little depression that comes from being misplaced.  It took a full 8 months to make the decision to come home and a further insane 3 months to make the move back.  We have been back almost 8 months already and today I got my CA number plates back.  Such a silly little symbol that has meant so much to me - it's what silently tells the world where I come from and to me, where I belong.

Don't get me wrong - I am not saying I regret the last 4 years... I have some special people who are still deeply in my heart.  And I am also not saying I will never move on again from this place.  I hold onto the fact that Digz and I are by nature adventureous people who aren't afraid to take chances or admit our mistakes... But for now - I know this is the place I want to be to bring up my girls.  Who knows where we will end up in this life or what is around the next corner.  But I sure am happy right now, to be in a place where I know, because I know, it's where I belong and where I want to be and maybe that's what those 4 years were all about... figuring out what I didn't want and to appreciate what I really did!!!!