The past few days have literally been a blur. In the midst of preparing to come home this weekend, I knew my final week would go by quite quickly. However, I never imagined it would go by THIS quickly! I'm trying to enjoy every single minute I have left as they are dwindling away.
Today was a spectacular day. Debbie and Lonnie took me to a few different places in my last efforts of being a tourist. We first went to a lion park in Johannesburg. This was by far the coolest thing I have ever done. We literally got to walk into an enclosure of small lion cubs and casually take pictures and pet them. I made friends with the giraffe and was able to get ridiculously close to her as I fed her. After that, we rode through the different lion/lionesses paths within the park. Mr. Lonnie gave me numerous anxiety attacks as he fearlessly (and carelessly) left his window down (although the sign clearly said not to) while driving within a few feet of these humungous, WILD, beasts. However, it was such an incredible experience to see these beautiful animals. Thank goodness we made it out alive!
After the lion park, we traveled to one of the local markets. This particular market is a lot like the markets you would find in the Bahamas. All of the vendors want you to buy their merchandise and promise to give you a "special price". They are all quite competitive salesmen and women. They also look at foreigners, especially Americans, to be easy targets in making good money. WRONG. They clearly were not aware that I am the daughter of Michael and Renee Felts. I was raised on coupons, sales racks and always making a deal. Those poor guys didn't have a chance in pulling the wool over my eyes. Needless to say, I got all of my souvenir shopping done within a reasonable budget. (:
Later this afternoon, I had coffee with Kurt, and then went shopping and had dinner with my friend Robyn.
Tomorrow is looking like it will be just as busy as today. I can not believe that it will be my last full day here in South Africa.
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Spending time with Scott and Cameron is always extremely special to me. Not only have these boys taken on the role of my little brothers, they have also claimed a large part of my heart during the past two months. I would not trade for anything in this world the countless interrupted FaceTime conversations, toys left in my room, violent hair brushing from Scott, homemade arts and crafts made for me OR the big bear hugs.
In the midst of our busy schedules, I have not gotten to hang out with them very much in the past 2 weeks. However, I got to spend just a few minutes with them today in between going here and doing that. During that time they reminded me of something very simple.
As we sat around the table, we started to tell knock-knock jokes. Each one making less sense than the next one, we all laughed hysterically. In that moment of just true happiness and joy, I realized that it is the simple moments like this that count more than any other. I've realized that life is what happens when work, school, and other things consume your time and attention. Sometimes, you just have to enjoy the silliness of pointless knock-knock jokes and the company of those that you love and care about. You just have to enjoy laughter.
Life is a beautiful thing. It is often taken for granted, and under-appreciated. It is often blasphemed for not being the equivalent of our standards of perfection. It is often misused and under-valued.
Today, I am making a promise to myself that I will never let life pass me by. I refuse to lose sight of the importance of companionship and just simple conversations. I will always try my very best to cherish each day that God gives me because tomorrow is never guaranteed.
Life's knocking at your door (see what I did there?), it's up to you to make the best of it.
xoxo
Taylor
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