50 Years

Anne and Luke

- 26th October 2013 -

The planning for my Aunt and Uncle's anniversary started about 3 weeks prior to them arriving , but we knew this was coming for quite some time before this. My aunt called my mother about 2 months ago (I think) to inform us that they will be flying to Johannesburg from their home in Cape Town. It was a treat they were planning for themselves for their 50 year anniversary... now the question is why would anybody seek a treat for themselves in Johannesburg?.... especially if they live in Cape Town? It turns out that Gauteng has something Cape Town doesn't have... the Gautrain!

But I guess there is more to it, my mother, brother and myself live here too, and their grandson also lives in Pretoria, so in addition to experiencing the fastest train in Africa, they would get the opportunity to celebrate their 50 years of marriage with family.

Bronwyn, my Aunt and Uncle's granddaughter also booked a plane ticket from Port Elizabeth to join us for dinner. Michael my brother was also very excited as this would be the first time they meet his daughter Jade. So everybody was getting together from across the country and I was honored with the task to make all the arrangements. With the help of Bronwyn I selected a restaurant, my mother ordered some flowers, Michael brought his car around to help with transporting everybody around. Aunty Mel, although she wouldn't be attending this special occasion, arranged a cake for the table and selflessly donated some cash towards the bill.... it was truly a team effort.

The big day arrived and I setoff to collect my Aunt and Uncle from their hotel. Originally I was planning to collect them an our later but it was the Currie Cup rugby finals so it was essential they were at my house for the start of the game. It was amazing seeing them for the  first time after all these years.... they looked great.

Soon after we arrived at my house, I had to leave to collect Bronwyn from the Centurion Gautrain station, Byron (the grandson) would be meeting us at my house with his brand new BMW motorbike (it is a stunning bike).

When everybody was present we popped a bottle of Champagne and toasted to 50 years of marriage.... what an occasion! 

The rugby was finished and it was time to get going to the restaurant, Tribeca Standard in Lynnwood.... we were already running late.

The party had began... we ordered a couple of bottles of wine and got talking about the good old days.

Aunty Anne had to get a photo of the beautiful cake which Aunty Mel organized. I should have got a photo of it but unfortunately I seemed to be more interested on my family. My mother was insistent that I bring my camera along, but I didn't mind, I do like photography after-all. However after a couple of glasses of wine the photography took a downward turn. I did get some decent photos, but they were odd ones here and there.

Jade was excited and earlier in the day, they (my mother, brother and Jade) went to buy some clothes for the evening. Jade picked out a beautiful red / pink dress... she literally looked like a princess. The problem is, when she meets people for the first time she is relatively shy and it take a special person talking about a very special subject to get her to loosen up. Bronwyn being the bubbly person she is was just that person and seeing that she works with animals for a living they had lots to talk about.

Besides the discussions of animals on the one end, conversation was good all round the table. When it came time to order, uncle Lucas ordered some seafood, which wasn't any good (we weren't in Cape Town after-all) , but after sending it back to the kitchen he settled for a Pizza, which in my opinion was quite good. I ordered a lamb shank and although it wasn't heated thoroughly it didn't taste bad at all. Although I can't talk for the dishes the rest of my family ordered, I assume everybody else enjoyed their dinner.

Every so often I went out for  smoke and Jade tagged along.

But it wasn't long until she was fast asleep on the couch by our table.

After dinner it was time to cut the cake, and what a messy affair that was... the white chocolate surrounding the cake seemed to crumble everywhere.

It has been a very long time since I had seen Bronwyn or Byron, and although this was primarily about a 50 year marriage, it was a treat for us all to be reunited.

When the evening was over it was essential that we transport everybody to their home or accommodation, I took my Aunt and Uncle back to their hotel in Hatfield and Michael took Bronwyn to Bryon's house in Villeria.... although Bronwyn had to catch a flight early in the morning their grandparents had a full day planned for Sunday where they would be traveling all over Gauteng on the Gautrain. 

It was sad to say bye to everybody, but the evening was a success, we all got to celebrate this awesome occasion together.