When I was at school, I was not a very girly girl.
I had two good girlfriends and then I had boys as friends.
One of those boys got along verrrrry well with me, so much so that when we were in matric (last year of school in South Africa), we went to the matric farewell together (that's like prom).
I was always (and still am) in love with my university, Rhodes, and in fact, with Grahamstown.
I knew since my standard 9 year when I attended a Maths HG winter school (for gifted Maths pupils - now you know how really nerdy I am) that Rhodes was for me.
I just decided yesterday after seeing one too many photoshoots on a universtity campus that I'm putting on my Mondo list to have a photo shoot on the Rhodes campus. A real Mondo would be to have Jeanette in Grahamstown at the same time as us, with my hair looking fabulous and me at goal weight, but I digress...
Anyway, this guy then decided to go do a bridging year at one of the private boys' schools in Grahamstown (there are TONS of outstanding private schools there - in the smallest city in SA but again, I digress) as he was offered a sports scholarship.
He was one of those guys who was good at every sport but he truly excelled in one or two (cri.cket) and I actually remember him doing a sports commentary on a rugby match for one of his oral presentations.
It was hilarious and fantasticly inspiring, all at the same time. As you know, the passion always gets me.
Our class used to tease us that since we'd both be in Gtn, we'd end up going out (going steady) and getting married.
I was of course firmly in love with S, my one other serious boyfriend before D.
R & I ended up going out (as friends) a couple of times in Gtn but nothing serious, always just friends.
Anyway, you know how it goes, we drifted apart when I moved to Jhb.
But one Dec when D and I went on holiday, we bumped into him. He was married to my primary school needlework teacher's daughter :) did you get all that?
And then I haven't heard of or from him for easily 10 - 12 years.
Until yesterday.
I was driving to work when I heard the news and his name.
I thought, "no.... can't be" but forgot to check when I'd walked upstairs to the office.
And then driving home, same story. Heard the news.
This time I remembered and googled it the minute the kids were in bed.
It's true.
He is the assistant co.ach of the nat.ional SA cr.icket team!
Amazing!
I am SOOOO PROUD of him and this is PERFECT for him. Perfect.
He's always been a really good leader, a likeable guy and someone absolutely passionate about cri.cket.
Isn't that weird?
I looked him up on FB to say hello but he's not there. So I will check with my other school friends.
But seriously, isn't this fabulous?
Small town guy makes big and all that jazz. Mind you, one of our high school teachers is also some bigwig in the SA sporting world. M.ax Jo.rdaan :)
Do you still keep in contact with your old school friends?
P.S. I am in contact with 4 on FB - that's it :) And I finished school in 91, a whole 20 years ago.
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I have many people on my FB profile which attended school with me but only one I keep in touch with on a regular basis through visits, emails etc.
ReplyDeleteThat is so great for him ! We are having our 25th school reunion this year and the guys have gone full out to find us all, mainly on facebook - we have a group there too. I have a little post brewing about this - but wait, let me just write it for today. Go read a bit late.
ReplyDeleteM, I purposefully don't put my maiden name on FB - there's a reason I don't want to be friends with people from 20 years ago :)
ReplyDeleteCat, 25 years!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to read your post :)
I do keep in touch with a few old school friends, but not too many. I wasn't very popular before university (as I was and always will be a geek). The few friends I have from back then are true friends. I did recently put my maiden name on FB and I've had a few old boyfriends try to contact and friend me, but I ignore them. I'm not interested in touching base with old boyfriends.
ReplyDeleteI'm in touch with a ton of people from my hometown through FB. Probably 80% of my friends list is from my hometown. I haven't lived there since high school, and I don't have family there any more, so it's such an awesome way for me to still feel a tiny part of the community.
ReplyDeleteI've stayed in close touch with a couple of friends from high school, pre-dating FB, and we're still in close touch. One is on FB (and his wife has a blog - score!), but the other is rarely on FB.
Interestingly, I've become "close" friends (relatively speaking, from a FB / email perspective) with a couple of my friends' siblings. One was a couple of years older than me in school, and I didn't know her well then, but she has a daughter just about the age of A&B. We correspond all the time.
The other I only met in person a couple of times, but I friended her on FB because she was always posting pictures of my friend's son. We've since become very close with our cats as the common ground.
Congrats to your friend...that's awesome! And such a neat way for you to hear about him after such a long time! :)
I was desperate to go to Rhodes to study english. I got in and everything but my folks just couldnt afford the fees.
ReplyDeleteI went there in my STD 9 year for the Grahamstown festival and I fell in love!
My actual dream was Oxford - lol - but Rhodes was a local second.
I am in contact with only 3 of them. I honestly have no desire for contact with people that I went to school with. Like you, I only use my married surname on FB and I also don't list the name of the school I attended. I actually hated school and when I matriculated I looked straight ahead...LOL
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome news about your friend. I have ALWAYS wanted to go to the Grahamstown Festival but I can never get there. Also have no one to go with me.
I have no contact with any of my old school friends from when I finished in 1978. We just grew apart over the years and I have no desire to look them up or see them...weird;-)
ReplyDelete