The Kite Day

Tabitha's first birthday week was very special. Wessel was away for work on her birthday, and being by myself gave me time to remember her and the events from a year ago. Some memories are, off course, very disturbing and sad, but all in all it is good for me to remember. I set aside all responsibilities for the day and spent some time reading some details of her life from my blog. I stayed in bed until late, reading a book, crying and answering messages and phone calls. My friend Luzaan decided to take me for lunch, and that's when the snow came down all over Sandton. It was such a special moment. Everything feels surreal when it snows, especially here in Joburg where we hardly ever see snow. Apparently Joburg saw some snow in 2007, and before that in 1981! At the risk of sounding a bit self absorbed, it felt like God sent us snow as a special message on Tabitha's birthday. Whether He did or not, it was very special - I will never forget it. We had lunch at a quaint little bakery. It was freezing and it felt like we were in Europe. (The thermometer was around 2 degrees celcius at lunchtime.) They even played my favourite music!

When I came back, there were three bunches of flowers delivered to my house. From Wessel, his family and my parents. As I was arranging them in pots two more bunches arrived - from my sister and friends. They are beautiful! My house is still looking like a flower shop! I was really spoiled and the day could not have been more special. It was the perfect day.

My parents came to visit for the weekend, and they gave me a beautiful ring to remember Tabitha by. Absolutely exquisite and totally unexpected. On Sunday we continued the one year memorial celebrations with our Kite flying picnic. It was sunny, but not exactly warm. The wind was freezing, but nevertheless we attempted the long anticipated event. We baked pretty cupcakes and set off with our home made kite. Some friends came to join us. They even brought their own kites along. It was very special. It was beautiful to see our kite fly higher and higher with its pink bow tail and banner and the number '1' drawn on the white plastic. We hope that it caught Tabitha's attention from whatever she is doing in heaven! Even if it didn't, we all enjoyed it very much and even the weather turned out to be quite nice. How wonderful to enjoy quality time with friends and family around the memory of our precious baby girl. We hope to do this every year from now on. 

Thank you also to people elsewhere who celebrated the day with us. My sister in Paarl and her family sent balloons up into the sky as the rainy weather is not ideal for kite flying. My niece even drew a picture of herself and Tabitha on the balloon. My cousin in the UK also had a picnic and flew a beautiful butterfly kite to remember Tabitha! 

I'm posting lots of pictures in another post and a video here. (Make sure you put on the sound at the bottom left.) Enjoy!