Well i guess now that i have finally plucked up the courage to do this i better get started. Its always a little awkward to have to talk about yourself. Kind of like in every interview where they ask you to tell them about yourself and suddenly you go blank and know nothing about yourself, or you ramble on and talk about your first day in preschool (true story). So in the interest of being thorough lets start at the very beginning.
I made my debut into the world on the tiny island of Mauritius back when shoulder pads and big hair were all the rage. In the battle of names Karen won over Caroline. Both are very daytime soapie names in my opinion but in light of all the crazy Karens we have now i wish Caroline had won. Alas here i am the least Kareny, Karen of all time, Karen Annabelle to be exact.
When i was 4 we moved from Mauritius to this tiny one road town in Botswana called Francistown. I'm not kidding when i say it was a one road town, Blue Jacket Street is still referred to as the "main road." I know it sounds completely crazy to leave idyllic beautiful Mauritius for this dusty town but my dad had two kids to feed at the time so it would have been stupid to pass up a job opportunity. Being Creole back then meant there were not a lot of opportunities for him in Mauritius anyways, so we packed up and moved. This also meant that my dad was crazy strict and kept telling us how we had to work hard for a better future, because he was doing this all for us. In fact the first time I spent the night away from home with no family with me was in varsity. Sleep overs weren't a thing in my house. My parents would gladly let all the girls spend the night at our house but we never spent the night away from home.
Living in Francistown in the 90's was amazing. There was such a large expat community and it was a melting pot of different cultures, traditions and races. While neighbouring South Africa was battling for equality we were shielded from all of that. We all went to school together, played together, ate together and laughed together. I ate phane and mabele with my Motswana friends, celebrated Eid with my Muslim friends and Diwali with my Hindu friends. It was and still is the kind of town where everyone knows each other.
My siblings and I would stay out and play till we were either dirty or bleeding. We played rough so there was always tears and blood. I have this huge scar on my left arm from getting cut by the kitchen cabinets while chasing a ball.
Every one of my childhood memories involves hot dusty Francistown. Even though my passport says Mauritius, my home will always be Francistown.
When i think about it now if my dad had never moved us, there is a good chance i would not be Torens Mama today. I probably would not have gone to TUKS and shared a res dining hall with one of Tony's friends who was insistent that we should meet because we would be perfect for each other.
You would think that at some point in a four year LLB programme we would have met up like normal people but nope this is not a varsity love story folks. We only started Facebook chatting (because Lil Wayne was coming to South Africa) after I graduated and moved back home. So now here i was chatting till two in the morning with a guy 700 km away. I still had no idea what Tony actually looked like because he didn't have pics of himself on Facebook, to this day he still hates having his pic taken.
In January of 2012 we decided it was finally time to meet after we didn't meet at the Lil Wayne concert. I have no idea how we decided on Union Buildings but that was where we met. I arrived early because i hate being late and as soon as i parked it started drizzling. I thought i should wait a few minutes before i text that i was there. I didn't want to appear too eager. The rain gets heavier and i'm still waiting and eventually i grab my phone to send a text and my phone was dead. With all the nerves and excitement i forgot to charge my phone, check my iPad dead as well ( also why was i gong places with a phone and iPad in 2012).
While i am losing it trying to figure out how to contact this guy there is a knock on my window and there is Tony with this huge green and white umbrella. We end up walking to his car to chat and I realise now that if he was a kidnapper it was over for me. Thankfully he wasn't a kidnapper and when we got to his car he had this huge bouquet of pink roses. Pink rose are my absolute fave and the fact that he got that right had me feeling all the feels. We sat in his car for a good 3 hours talking about the most random things and we've been together ever since.
Writing out this post actually reaffirmed to me that if its meant to be God will ensure it is. We are two people that essentially should have never met let alone gotten married, and yet here we are. Creole and Venda trying to raise Toren and figure out this adulting thing together.
So i will end this post with this thought if you are ever in doubt just trust that God/Allah/ the universe has got your back and it will all work out in the end.
