Tag: family
-
The things I gained when I gave up the things I thought I needed in life
Going cold turkey isn’t easy, but it can be good for you too.
-
How five gay men made me change my bad habits
A chance encounter with a reality show recently made me rethink my marriage and the issue of masculinity within the home. It stopped me in my tracks and made me realise anew that not all masculinity is toxic. It’s inspired this raging women’s rights activist to want to change some of my bad habits. And…
-
The strangely satisfying ritual of the long, slow Sunday roast
It’s a tradition that dates back through the generations, captured in fading photographs that evoke the aromas and conviviality of a restful weekend, capped with an indulgent family meal. Even in an age of restless change, there’s nothing like a hearty Sunday roast.
-
You don’t have to be chicken to live here, but it helps
I come from a long line of pavement specials, so there is no ancestral home and definitely no family crest. But if there’s one bird that deserves to be on our family crest, when we eventually get around to tracing our roots, it should be the cheeky chicken.
-
The high cost of living rent-free at home
Moving back home was great. I still had my space, but most of all, I did not have to worry about paying rent. Things changed though when my nephew came to join me in 2017, while pursuing his university studies. Just like that, my independence was gone.
-
The two things you need to make your house a home
I grew up with two kitchen tables. One had a table top of solid South African pine, and the other was topped with grey Formica. At those tables, we ate breakfast, lunch and supper as a family. At those tables, I baked with my mother and my grandmother.
-
Goodbye, dear old plum tree, and thank you for the shade
What a tree you have been, dear Plum. You stood for our family. You stood up for us and supported our growth. But, finding myself alone in this rambling, overstuffed home, you must make way now. Things have changed.
-
How I survived the great rugby battle in the desert
When Joe flipped on the telly to catch the rugger, I thought “Great! I can do rugby! I have a favourite team. I’ve live-tweeted the Rugby World Cup, and I’ve even watched my team, the Stormers, live at Newlands, from a box, nogal!
-
The things I learned about love, life, & padkos on Ouma’s family camping trips
To this day, when I see a hard-boiled egg or cheese on cream crackers, I’m taken right back to the times me and my cousins were piled in the back of a station wagon, passing the padkos Tupperware around and bouncing out of our skin in anticipation of our destination.
-
The sweet pain of trying to catch up with your teen
Parenting rattles you. We spend the first few years desperately trying to provide the most nurturing foundation for life. Then, seemingly overnight, we’re flung into the world of the tweens, and almost everything we were supposed to hold on to, we must let go of.