10 10 10 Blanche = person of the week

It was a 10 out of 10 - weekend.

As I drove to town this morning (meeting up with Maggie so that we may catch a glimpse of Blanche along route- gunrun 2010) the radio presenter said that it was the 10th of the tenth month in 2010 and that at 10 past 10 (am) the cut-off for the gunrun would be announced.


Now just to provide some context:
I've been away from Wednesday to Friday on a Metropolitan Retail- planning session (venue: Lanzerac, Stellenbosch) which actually deserves a post all on its own and I (happily) endured a couple of late nights.


We finished early on Friday and I headed home to help wrap some presents (we had a birthday party to attend on Friday-night)




Lovely time at John & Lizelle's. I love their three boys and there was a little-Emma which I was ready to abduct, but her mother was too attentive and took her home at 22h. boo-hoo.



We had to get up early on Saturday-morning, because Chris had a flight to KZN Durban to catch.
He is taking part in the Flyfishing National championships at Underberg. (Good luck husband!)

I dropped him at 8am and headed into town to attend a 30th birthday- breakfast party.
Jeanne Thea Calitz is someone whom you'd love to celebrate.
We (University-friends, two sisters, husband, darling parents-in-law, Dad- Louis, close friends from whichever sphere of life Jeanne attracted) had that privilege.





You'd understand if you met Jeanne.
The sparkle, the emotional-honesty, the grace, the wickedly funny twinkle....
She is an eternally-feminine darling of a friend.




She has been a healing balm, a burst of champagne, an anchor and a colourful kite all through the years. We met at a first-year-camp (January 1999) as we both landed/chose Heemstede- ladies residence at Stellenbosch as our university-base.

We were room-mates during our third year. 2001: She was preparing/finishing up on her degree in Value and policy-studies and perfected her craft: journalism thereafter.

Anyway as "The little Prince" says: why do grown ups think in numbers: born in 1980 and has been working for 7 years, when indeed that tells you absolutely NOTHING about the person.
It does not tell you if they like butterflies and how their laughter sounds. (ps. This is a rough- recollection of what I read and it is not intended to be an exact quote, apologies to the author)




















Thanks Jeanne for a lovely morning at
Nerina street.
Stylish and Sweet and Special.
Thanks also to Anel and Vansie for their assistance.




The sun was beating down in this Southern-most city of the African continent and I was feeling the accumulated effect of 4 nights' little sleep and indulgent food.

slept.


slept.

Went to Inge's house to say good-luck for the 10km- race and to catch up.
I did my first and second 10km-road races with this blonde- angel and she had evolved, trained, magic-forest-accelerated and achieved to a point where I was envious and falling off the bus.

We have the Pinelands' 10km- race to look forward to on the 27th of (R)october.

Sushi & wine & conversation as scrumptious as the soy-drenched-bites (Thanks Inge!)




So: I think I've provided you with ample context.
Aaah yes (I got carried away and forgot where I started this post)

So: I got up early yet again and drove to town, where (mercifully) Maggie picked me up and briefed me on how our middle sister was doing during her first half-marathon.

Sounded like she was doing remarkably well.

Maggie had seen her (along the 21km-route) twice and reported that progress was indeed (what appeared to be) fantastic and above expectation.

As it turned out: we were both still way off. . . as Blanche did AMAZINGLY well....
she finished her first 21 kilometer road race in 134minutes.

Maggie and I was over the moon, surprised, happy and just massively proud of her.
Mus♪c in her ears ♪ ( she had selected an appropriate play list on her mp3-player the day before) cruised through it.

When Maggie and I caught a glimpse of her coming through the finish-line she did not even look tired... far from the "hospitalise me"- faces we saw while scanning for our sibling in the crowd.



Blanche : you most definitely get person- of -the -week.
Your calm confidence and happy attitude and gentle-way inspire us all. You are an independent woman and well- deservedly person-of-the-week.
mmwha !!

Love, Maria