Yesterday was a bad day. Well, it wasn’t all bad. Our consumables shipment (food, cleaning supplies) arrived in the morning and I had a blast unpacking my Sam’s Club purchases from over the summer. I discovered that I accidentally bought twice as much Nutella as we can possible eat, but the household help were happy to take the excess off our hands.
Speaking of household help, we had a little issue with that. I really, really wish I could share details with you all on this blog. Unfortunately, I don’t think that would be a good idea based on the people involved and other stuff. I posted about it on Facebook yesterday and got a lot of really interesting comments and messages about it. From my expat friends, I received a lot of support. From my friends back home, there was a lot of tough love. Now, I’m not saying my friends weren’t supportive, or that their judgment was uncalled for. I was very intrigued by their responses to this situation because it showed me just what a bubble I live in. (I deleted the Facebook post today because it was whiny and stupid.)
So I was sitting there feeling sorry for myself, drinking a glass of wine and letting the girls watch The Wiggles. (Don’t judge. I normally don’t turn on the TV all day. It was a rough day. Trust me.) And I was thinking about how much I missed South Africa and my friends and colleagues there. And then I looked out the window. I couldn’t believe I never noticed before, but we have a jacaranda tree right outside our house.
![20131106-DSC_0626](http://danandtracyoverseas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/20131106-DSC_0626-510x338.jpg)
Why the obsession with jacarandas? Well, for one thing, they’re purple! In October, Pretoria is covered in purple flowers.
![DSC_0894 copy](http://danandtracyoverseas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/DSC_0894-copy-510x767.jpg)
Right before we left, we bought an oil painting of the jacarandas from a local artist. It’s finally hanging in our living room.
When we unwrapped the painting, I nearly cried because I knew the jacarandas were blooming at that very moment all over Pretoria and I just wanted to be back in a familiar place.
Back to yesterday: I have no idea why I only noticed the tree at the moment when I was feeling so much self-pity. But it forced me back to reality. My situation was entirely fixable. It won’t be easy, but we’ve come up with a way forward that will hopefully work for everyone. (Again, wish I could share details so this would all make more sense!) And in the meantime, life is good. Really good. I have a scrawny little jacaranda next door, and I get to hang out with these little cuties all day:
![20131105-DSC_0486](http://danandtracyoverseas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/20131105-DSC_0486-510x767.jpg)
![20131106-DSC_0636](http://danandtracyoverseas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/20131106-DSC_0636-510x338.jpg)