MY Travel Channel…

I’ve always wanted to travel and to say I haven’t is going to get me slapped by the men with no feet (the ones you meet when you have no shoes). I have travelled.

But not enough.

Not the kind of travel where I could impress people at parties. And not nearly as much as all the interesting people I seem to meet at parties have done. And definitely not as much as all my old airforce buddies have done who all fly for big airlines between continents, staying in 5-star hotels, being fanned by half-naked men holding big elephant ear palm leaves (I hope there is such a palm… makes me sound very learned).

But this is MY party so this is my list of the exciting places I’ve been to. These are my 5-star hotels, my fancy restaurants and elephant ear palms…

The campfire in the bush talking crap with my boet and laughing so much it makes me cry or the campfires my dad would walk around on scout camps keeping everyone entertained with his acting and singing. My mom’s fridge in Sabie filled with leftovers. The forest I walked through in tears when I knew I was going to end my marriage. Every beach I’ve walked along thinking that beaches are stupid places to be walking, the thousand miles of mist covered hiking trails and every blade of grass on the 350km journey that takes me to see my sons.

And every place I’ve ever sung in. And every place I’ve ever made love to a woman.

And my elephant ear palms are the little white flowers that grow next to a special little waterfall in Sabie. The ones that are shaped like angels. The ones I asked to get me through the hardest times in my life. The ones that did. MY angels.

And because this is MY party I also get to list the places I still want to visit…

The same campfires with the same brother. The same fridge, same forests, same beaches, same hiking trails and the same blades of grass. I’ll always find places to sing in and the angels will always be there.

And the beautiful places. Making love to a beautiful woman.

~ by Norm on March 24, 2011.