Joey died on Valentine’s Day. Anais is with her mother (Theresa) and his family today, in New York at the funeral. He is having an official NYC Police send-off. Joey is my former step son. I was married to his mother.
I contacted Theresa for the first time in over thirty years to offer my condolences and express my sadness for the loss of a life – in whose beginnings we once shared. She reached back in appreciation, acknowledging of former selves.
My heart is full. May he rest in peace.
Today is also the day when Bill and I prepare to leave this sort of heaven.
Athon and his colleagues created a grand send-off “Boma” last night. They prepared a banquet and entertained us with song and dance in a magical space lit by stars, hanging lanterns and luninaria.
Athon, of course, was the star. Vee, one of the wait staff, seemed very shy, but came into her own, leading the chorus and, as Bill said, “busting a move”.
This morning, birds roused us with their music, a troop of baboons lined a high ridge across the river. I thought I saw an alligator on its banks below. We will cross into Angola again, for the final time and then zip our bags closed, for an early flight.
We are returning to the Sossusvlei Desert Lodge for another week in the Namib desert. I wish I could click my heals and find ourselves with feet planted firmly in the sand.
But no destination comes without the journey.
