Thekla and Adam had a wonderful surprise in store for their mothers in Betty’s Bay. First, a long lay-in with coffee in bed. Then a super breakfast accompanied with a reading of a text they both had composed for the occasion and after breakfast a foot and hand massage!

Here is the text wich they read sentence for sentence alternately, moistening our eyes.

Today is the day we set aside to honour our mothers

We give thanks for the humble virtues of their kind ways

Their tenderness and support is the rock on which we find our strength

Through labour pains, nappies, vomit and snot they remain true

Shaping our minds and guiding our souls to some greater purpose

They love and care for us even as we lose our innocence

They call and visit us even when we are vile and dismissive

Only later do we understand the anguish and self control this takes

Only in finding ourselves later in life do we come to see

The wisdom of compassion our mothers so intuitively embody

As it dwarfs the self centred expectations of lovers and friends

One of the great joys we experience in adulthood

is the finding of friendship in our mothers

once we can appreciate that mothers are not super human

just super.

Through the culinary, visual and mystical arts they have bestowed

An appreciation of both the aesthetic and the divine

Bringing joy in the simplicity and complexity of life

My dearest mommy, I love you so much and feel so blessed that God chose YOU to be my mommy!

Mother dear with all your care and wisdom I give thanks for your unique presence in moulding my life!

Thank you mom!

Adam with his mother Linda and Linda's husband Martin between them. Martin and Linda live in Australia and are visiting friends and relations in South Africa.

A deliciously aromatic egg concoction with mushrooms, cream and herbs, lovely bread and slow baked tomatoes, sweetly rich and intense.

Adam attending to his mother's hands.

With love from

Colleen & Walter
Betty’s Bay, 8 May 2011