Back Blogging

So much has happened, will you forgive me for being such a poor blogger! I am still without my laptop - so I can't do my famous Carrie from Sex and the City impersonation at night :(

I managed to post something a few minutes ago, which I must clarify was actually from last Tuesday.

I'm going to attempt to write about the most recent events because they are the most fresh. For all the other post I'm going to have to slot the information in under the various headings- #ihatebacklogs

Sunday- This is what I woke up to

My cousin is house-sitting for someone with 2 very cute dogs and a dying cat. The house owner has been pretty much relaxed about my cousin having special friends over so me and my besties were in luck. We got to stay in a beautifully-furnished bungalow that overlooks Clifton 4th beach. Property in Cape Town does not get more prime.

When we woke up on Sunday we had just missed the sunrise (by 7 hours). But I'm sure it was pretty much as majestic as the sunset without the bathers.

So I took my champion's breakfast- Ensure and a banana- on the terrace and had a chat with one of my besties about what it would be like to live like this everyday. With the beach at your feet and the mountain at your head you would truly have the very best of Cape Town all the time.

I kitted up and in less than 10 mins I was on the field- Helenic the Greek Club in Bay Road. In full view of the Cape Town stadium- awesome.

Our first game was easy, against Brett Evans' girls called Ajax (just for the tourney). I was worried about coming up against his wife who has scored a hat trick in last week's league game. I always see her at cycling events so I know she's fit. But the game was in the bag once the first 3 goals were scored by our powerful striker. Not even my own-goal (#epicfail) affected the victory- in a more serious game/with a tighter scoreline, I would have been given sad silent looks. Lucky me I got to be laughed at for the rest of the day instead.

During the second game I got badly injured. I took an elbow to my front tooth. Now I entered into the world of womens soccer 3 years ago with just one reservation- possible injuries to the mouth. 

It's taken me most of my life to come to terms with my teeth. 

I had a huge gap, 

then braces, 

wore a retainer for 3 years (while I slept) 

and the minute I stopped wearing it the gap returned. 

Normal. 

*Now, at age 26, with Madonna's reinvention still fresh in everyone's mind I actually love my teeth. In the same way I love my other once-hated body parts. Madonna showed everyone that the gap can be beautiful if you couple it with other great qualities (like sick dance moves and a smoking-flexible-killer body). On my way to Madge's fabulous body, I'll believe that the beat goes on and that anyone can reinvent their looks, and breathe life into unconventional physical features.

 

Back to the blood bath that my tournament turned into- I was sent off the field and immediately I could feel that something was wrong. Once I had rinsed some of the blood- which was coming from my split lip- I could see the extent of the damage. My precious and central right front tooth had been hit back. Surprisingly there was no looseness just a feeling of anger building inside my chest. For a second I wished I could go back in time and smash in that little blonde bitch striker. All she did was haggle in my area of defense clearly annoyed that I was marking her. When it all got to much for her she thought she'd destroy my tooth and my dream of having a beautiful collection of wedding pictures. All I kept saying was "I'm so livid, it's my wedding in four months". 

I called up an old friend who is now a dentist and she offered to meet me at the dental practice in Wynberg. Just as I was about to leave the field with one of my besties, my fiance arrived and I felt myself caving in. You know that one person who is privy to the weakest version of you? Well, the minute my bestie was out of earshot and eye-line I burst into tears. I cried from the Hellenic Club to Maynard Mall. All the while the fiance comforted me, with an ice pack (he carries one around with him wherever he goes :) and sensible words about how the dentist would fix everything up. 

I cry because he let's me 

and before the first tear drops he has already made himself into a wellness centre offering medical advice and counselling. *Events where he has been the hero: 

• completely closed his car door onto my right thumb: he was there with ice and bandages. 
• got headered by a guy during soccer: he met me at the hospital with ice

• nearly fell to my death on Lion's Head: he was there with ice water and an improvised bandage made of a soccer sock
• (Please note that ice is a crucial element to first aid)

If you ever danced with death, he would be the kind of fiance you would want to own. His hands are made of magic and he always seems to know exactly what to say to calm your nerves and stop your pain. It helps that he has a medical background because he knows when something is badly broken under your skin or when you could be concussed. But at the end of the day it's so much more than that. It's the fact that when I get hurt he wants to be first on the scene and he wants to be the one who fixes me. 

Maybe I became more accident-prone when I met him :)