THE KRAZI KIDS GROW UP PART lll - LISA

We last saw Lisa and I doing battle over kicking the dummy habit. I won.

However, during the course of our mother-daughter relationship, I did not ALWAYS win as she was indeed a force to be reckoned with.  But under her tough persona was a not so brave little girl. However, she was always a fighter.  She never gave any indication that she was troubled by anything and would store up fears, so when I least expected, and believing all was well in her world, she would have a melt down of mammoth proportions.  I spent many years on guilt trips, believing I must be an awful mother not to sense that she was in any way unhappy, I was so sure my children were always happy, and did the best I could for them, Oh, how I wished many times that I could read their minds!

Once I had picked up all the pieces and put my child back together again, she would tell me of her tragedy. She would  be fine until the next tragedy, and I never saw them coming. Not sharing worries, she was a victim of this debilitating affliction, but it was part of who she was. As she grew into adulthood she learn to cope and manage, trust did not come easily. It still doesn't.

Once she finished school, this complicated little soul, who underestimated her own strengths, passed matric, and here she is at her Matric Dance. All grown up.

She went onto Varsity College in Durban, did very well, and her brother-in-law, who was Manager of a top Durban hotel on the beach front, helped her secure her first job. She has stayed in the hotel business, climbed the ladder and (I'm going to say it!) I am soooo proud of you!!

Natalia was born 8 years ago, but she has been a single mom since Natalia was just over a year old. 

 Being a single mom is not easy, I know well what she has been through      and seen how hard it has been to cope with work and sicknesses on her own, has had no one to share joys and first days of school with, and since Shirley, her eldest sister and her family moved to England a year ago, it has been a little bit harder, but she has has grown in strength and has retained her quirky sense of humour throughout. 

Natalia is 5 in this picture. She's a happy tot, with a strong will of her own. Lisa has provided well for her, she attends a small Christian school where there are only a few children in each class. 

Lisa and Natalia only have one another resulting in a very close relationship. 

I think this picture says it all don't you?


I say with love and pride "That is my youngest daughter, and against all odds, she made it."