Journey's end...

Becky and I were out of control silly today~ I think it's a couple of things.
#1: we are both ridiculously silly in general and have realized that we often read each other's minds.
#2: we are totally exhausted.
#3: we are dealing with a combination of feelings that is impossible to explain~ sadness, relief, excitement, and that rotten feeling of having to say goodbye to phenomenal people who we may never see again.

Endings are tough. And so...today we dealt with our weirdness by taking care of the little last minute stuff we needed to get done.

Last weekend Becky and I found some fantastic craftsmen who make bead/wire work and she asked one of the guys to create a Y out of beads and wire. Ricky had spoken to us about the possibility of finding someone to do this type of thing and so Becky did! She connected with Norbert last weekend, drew him the logo, and we went back today to check it out. It was perfect! Becky shared the design with Ricky and he seemed to really like it, so we hope that Norbert, who lives in Khayelitsha, can do some serious business with the YMCA, creating this amazing piece of art!

We also went over to say our FINAL goodbye to Rosie and her crew... it was very sad to give our last hugs (the hugs are always plentiful at Rosie's!!) and it was very hard to leave Auntie Rosie... perhaps our hardest goodbye.

And tonight Ricky, his wife Natalie and their gorgeous daughter Chelsea hosted a pizza dinner for us at their beautiful home in Lakeside~ a really nice town in between Cape Town and Cape Flats. A bunch of the gang from the YMCA that we've worked with were able to come~ Mo, Andrew, Sonya, Monique, Norman, Lucille and Bertram... this was a great way for us to say our goodbyes and have some much needed closure with our YMCA group.

These people all do such incredible work and have welcomed us into their community with open arms, answered our endless flow of questions, given us directions 7 million times, and become good friends of ours. The kindness, generosity, patience and love that we have felt from this group will never be forgotten.

That being said...as sad as it is to leave this place and these people we have grown so attached to, we are getting VERY excited about coming home and sharing our stories with all of you~ we are also looking forward to hearing your stories that we have missed while we've been away...

All of you~ our incredible family and friends~ have been with us on this journey the entire way. It is impossible to express our gratitude to all of you for your endless support and love. The spirit of UBUNTU is alive and well...