The Moment It Shined: The Uncovered

The 27th of April, 2014. That was the Sunday I first saw her and I thought, wow! My first words to her was "Whadup shawty", and as she turned around to look at me, I noticed her responsive smile that shed a light into my heart. Church was the location, and foreign she didn't seem to be, as she was pretty well known by most, except me! Curiosity hit me, so we briefly shared words, statements and even humor, It was so remarkable, her smile, her touch, her everything. The time was done and so we had to split. And there I thought I'd never see her again, only to receive my answer to the golden question "Are you coming next weekend?" Cheerfully she said yes and that's when I knew something special was on its way.

The week went by so patiently, you'd swear time had almost froze. But I guess it was worth the wait, just so that I could fully endure that weekend which had so much to offer. And then the day came, so much joy in my heart was filled instantaneously, as I shared my presence with her. The first glance of her caused my heart to almost implode out of fear.

The kind of fear by which she shouldn't see, as my heart was aching to say a simple 'Hi'. Nonetheless I took my long hard breath, and went for it, as the encouragement of my soul cheered me on "Do it bro, just go for it!" I knew that she'd noticed my presence, but being the lady she was, she wouldn't had made the first attempt to halla at a brother. I'm glad she didn't though, cause it would have made my lifetime goal a lot easier to embark upon, which would become degrading for a man, according to 'the guy code' that is. That smile of hers killed me once again, which was kinda nerve-wrecking if you ask me, but somehow, someway, I felt calm about it. The calmness of when you just found out something breathtaking, like passing your Engineering masters degree. Again we briefly shared words, telling her how glad I was to see her on that morning, which to me, was exclusively honorable sharing this to her. As the distraction of our friends intercepted our meet, we prepared for our journey ahead.

Our destination soon arose and it was good being there. The environment was impressively free and alive, indeed very much close to heaven, should I say. There was a lake, with ducks and dragonflies swooping over it. The place was as big as a field, much like the Ellis park stadium, and is surrounded by wilderness, you'd think your deep into the Kruger National Park, splendid I tell ya. We were introduced to the leaders of the site and to ourselves as well, we had been split into groups - boys and girls separately, then got on with our given objective tasks.

After the tasks, we were called into the hall for some singing and some more seriousness of the intended camp. Honestly, on the day of arrival, we really didn't entertain each other as we had to first conform ourselves with the environment and behavior of the situation, as we were in too much company with our friends in order for us to get more comfortable with the weekend intended. The night fall resurrected from across the globe as the sun vanished in the valley, a different mood was introduced. It was time for supper, we had placed ourselves in groups of friends as we quenched through our meal. Failing to resist the temptation on laying my eyes on her beauty, I occasionally set sight on her, which brought joy on each passing sight of her. Starring was no exception as I didn't want to blow my cover, you know. I had to keep it under the carpet, be a fly on the wall... So there's this norm that after a certain meal, you should wash up your dishes and commence to your rooms. At times I told myself, "Why not offer my services and help the lady with her dishes?" Great idea it was, but only if I hadn't gone for seconds by which the time I was done, she'd already finished washing hers. Aah... no biggie, "there's always a next time" I told myself. On to next venue for the night, movie night per-say. We got ourselves to the hall, settled down with friends, and watched a beautiful testimonial based movie.

'The movie was about a surfer dude looking for the most perfect wave he'd ever seen. He took a journey across the entire world in seek of it and encountered many challenges in which he almost died from. During his "death" he witnessed Christ and was given a second chance at life, in exchange for his faith. After he resurrected, he changed his life completely, he shared his near-death experience to everybody and yes, he did find the perfect wave at the end.' Beautiful movie it was.

After the movie, a suggestion was followed through to have a barn fire and some hot chocolate, which was a great idea. When we were there, my friends were mingling and so I had to find a way to get to her through her friends that she was accompanied with, and that made me think of a strategy to fulfill that. I tried some attempts, but unfortunately it wasn't enough effort, along with having the 'undercover mentality', I didn't have the courage to pull through with my 'mission implausible'. But... the environment was indeed fulfilling and pretty much great, especially having her there, even though she was a few bodies away from me, I still pretty much enjoyed it. Then nap time soon arrived, and so we had to split once again. You know what they say, tomorrow is another day.

After the ruthless 5am alarm from our leaders, IN WINTER, we woke up to refreshen ourselves and get ready for the day prepared for us. An early morning barn fire was prepared and we were scheduled to meet there for a briefing of the day. So I get there right, and I have a doek on my head as I had plated my hair for them dreads. So as I enter the area, I get a standing ovation styled laugh for the special trend up my skull. Her being part of the group that shared laughter, she also made fun of me as I shared my good mornings. In some way that kinda turned my inner soul on hey. Like she was the fuel that brewed my soul on fire, image that.

So we had breakfast, washed up and went on with the day's activities. During the day we had an exciting activity, a game show to be an exact. Ever heard of a show called 'Minute to win it'? Well that was it really. Out of 5 games performed, both of us were chosen to be part of them. And both of us won our intended games, call us gangstas hehe... So our objectives: She had to roll out two ribbons held from both her hands, wrapping them over her arms quicker than her opponent, and she did it; I had to eat a cookie that was placed on my forehead, without the use of my hands, just with the support of my g-force and motions of my face, and I successfully did it. It was fate I tell ya, it was meant to be that way, by God's grace that is. Then as that finished, we had a more serious in touch with Christ through a personal discussion, whereby tears were shed and emotion ran high. I even said a few words myself, it was hard but worth it at the end.

After the reflection, as we were packing up chairs and clearing up the hall, I found a little crystal cross on the ground, and instantly I thought of something exciting. I walked up to her, she turned her attention to me, I smiled as I gave her that cross and guess what I did? I proposed to her, yeah.. like I literally asked her to be my wife. She was truly stunned hey, you could see from that gasp she had, it was unexpected really. She then composed herself, and remarkably enough, with that killer smile of hers, she said yes. I mean she really did accept my proposal, wow! You know that face you make when you just found out you've passed an exam you didn't even prepare for? That was it. I was so happy it felt like I achieved all. Obviously I had to kill it with a hug, a good one indeed, so good it felt endless as I closed my eyes imaging the secrets of the valley, heaven to be precise. We were good together, we still are anyway. I never want to put it on our past just yet.

It was time for lunch so we commenced there without no delay. We had our meal and I had my seconds as usual, I think I went thirds too haha...

This time after lunch, my offer was available to assist with her dishes, along with other unexpected requests from other peeps, but my number 1 priority was fully attended, which put a smile in my heart. When I was done with my dishes, I found my 'wife' standing on the top step in the door entry-way. Remember in the beginning of the story when I said my first words to her "Whadup shawty"? Well she really is a shawty, a cute adorable young looking beauty, you'd swear she's a 7th grader (she'll kill me for mentioning this, that's if she'll know about it anyway), well that's how cute she is. So yeah, as short as she was, standing on that platform made her an inch taller than myself. When I saw her there, I backed up to her and offered my darling a piggyback ride, she jumped on my back with excitement and there we went. I literally ran around with her all over the stoep area and at some point, I did a 1800° spin-a-roony (a 5 full rotational spin) with her on my back. I swear she became terrified and screamed mercifully for me to stop, what a hysterical moment it was. As soon as I stopped to put her down, she became short again haha... and she gave me a hard kick on my butt, yeah that's right, she literally kicked my ass. It was kinda sore hey, you wouldn't expect such force from those short legs of hers. I guess I underestimated her, she's a real tough cookie if you ask me. But I've learned my lesson though, never mess with her.

From there, we were given chill time to just refresh our bodies, that's when the youth leaders (which I was part of) were called in to assist for the next task, which was about breaking rules. It was in a room near the dining area which had a TV set and a pool table. We had to pack out chairs, inflated some balloons and installed the sound. We were told to play along and be destructive as soon as the group was called in, and see if they'd follow the rules of keeping organized as expected. They were called in and we went ballistic! We encouraged them to play pool, some watched WWE on the TV set, some were dancing on about. I tell ya, it became chaos after donuts were handed out to the group, you know what sugar does to the brains of youths.

We soon introduced calm into the atmosphere, which took almost 5mins for it to succeed, geez these kids! After it became quiet enough to start the lesson, the mood became serious. It was so deep, some people even shared testimonies, yup now that's deep. After the session along with high emotions, we were all given a two hour afternoon off, so we could do whatever was applicable. I went to chillax by the lake with some friends and just enjoy the scenery. At some point I decided to go bother my wife a bit, which was a mistake I regret on doing even at this second. So as I teased her about being a mini human, I don't know how'd it happen, but one of her friends spoke to me in a flirtatious manner by which I missed at looking upon, and being the kind guy I was, I responded in a friendly note. Oooh bro! Big mistake. My wife got pissed at the fact that I was entertaining such nonsense and so it was over, meaning she demanded a divorce at immediate effect. So I laughed right, and I was sure she was kidding, but noo, she wasn't. "Okey, I need to do damage control" I thought, and so I apologized for that minor ordeal (that's what I thought it was okay!). I would be lucky if she'd accepted my apology, but hehe... I had forgotten my clover at home. Okey, It's like this. Her friends witnessed this entire situation as it happened, as so I thought it was a trap because they were influencing my darling into the divorce.

I believed that normally she would have accepted my sincere (not just an apology) but apologies for this, but with her friends being the fuel to the fire, that was near impossible to achieve. So peep this... The same friend that instigated this, opted to be her Lawyer (or should I say "Attorney-of-State") for the divorce case, like really! Okey, now I thought I needed some of my "Ammu-Nation" of my own hehe... My backup soon arrived, and I explained the situation to them. Well I assured to them that I didn't want to lose her, so they had to leave their armor-piercing bullets for them rubber bullets. Defense mode was at large. I told her how much I loved her, how much she meant to me. She was my sun to my day, and without her would be an endless night. She was my rim to my tire, and without her I would be tubeless. She was my shadow from my light, without her would make me shadowless - a ghost really. She was my Barbie without her Ken, my Juliette without her Romeo, my Saturn without it's ring. I tried all the tricks on the book hey, my book that is. But that fuel truck (her friends) had more fuel to fill all the cars of the United States hey. The fire (the situation) didn't burn down. You could see that she was willing to give up the divorce and come back to me, but like I said, it was near impossible. My legal team was infuriated by her legal team. Hysterical I tell ya.

The case drew to a close but it wasn't over, as I was pretty resistant. I mean, have you seen her? Any man would fight to keep such a beautiful intelligent girl in their lives, and that was what I was willing to do. Our two hour break drew to an end and it was time for an adventurous activity.

So the instructors assigned each of us random numbers between 1 to 5, meaning we had to be divided into 5 groups to endeavour this assignment. As soon as we all got our numbers, we were placed into our desired groups according to the numbers we represented, and had to be on standby so we could receive the instructions.

I say again that God had this camp planned for us from start because only he knew the plan. So I represented group number 4 if I can remember correctly, and guess who was in it? In a group of 10 people, my long-term best friend was in, my two other friends were in, one of the friends of my wife was in, and finally (I keep the best for last) my wife herself was in, talk about a perfect group hey. It was a mere lucky the State Advocate didn't join our group, but she did attempt to steal her client out of our group, but did she ever think I'd let her? Never!

As soon as we had been briefed on the activity, by which it was indeed adventurous, we got on it. But just before we started, my wife and her nosey friend made me assure to them that they shouldn't be bothered by me. *yawn*

Okey, about the activity. We had to look for 12 pieces of paper with a string attached to it, which were all scattered around the entire campsite, and when I mean entire campsite I mean beyond the local area, into the wilderness per-say. It was pretty exciting because the last time I comfortably played in the wilderness was back in '06 so after then I played the "too old for nonsense" card, by which at some point I got chubby from it. So as we were exploring alongside my adorable bubuna, it was quite obvious that I couldn't keep my leash intact for long. I mean our connection was mutually convenient, though surprisingly unique honestly. So there I was begging for her to drop the divorce suit but resisted much like a dog with a bone. "Eish, what a tough cookie" I thought, but I knew somehow, someway I'd overcome her stubbornness that she was showcasing, whether she liked it or loved it... or not. We had interesting conversations and bonded like glue throughout the exploration, my homie even believed we were meant to be, and never have I doubted that he is right. Besides, it was all in Gods hands, that's for sure.

As soon as we were done and got back to base, were given time to rest up so I used that to shower as it was indeed a sweaty day overall. I was done in time for supper and so we went, and a good meal it certainly was, along with my usual seconds ofcause. After supper, more free time was given for those who didn't freshen up, and there I met her, unfortunately she was with her crew. But nothing stopped me, I mean even if she was at the other side of a high flowing river, I'd still find a way to cross over to her, that's how special she is to me. I'd risk all for her. So then I was introduced to her friend's nagging, 'hee hee stay away from her, nwi nwi sign the papers, warah warah let her fly free', Eish it was so annoying I felt like pimp-slapping them all individually, but I'm as peaceful as a butterfly so I don't sting. Then I asked her "How could we have gotten married without even a Lobola ceremony? Yet we're already giving up so soon." She thought about it and said "You owe me, pay up boy." Happy was I cause I knew that this would contradict the divorce in a guaranteed way. I had to do this quick enough, so I asked my legal team to negotiate the process on my behalf. Oh yes, and one more thing, they were Caucasian. "This outah be interesting" she thought out loud. Okey, this actually got interesting for real.

So like I (the groom) was not suppose to say anything during the process right! So herself (the bride) and her legal team were the responders to what my team were offering, and out of all the expected came the unexpected I tell ya. "Okey we are here on behalf of our client... oh I meant our groom, so how about you take 6 maghundwuane (rats), 2 lizards and 50 cents for this wonderful lady?"

"WHAT!?" as we all bursted in laughter. I thought they were kidding but noo, their decision stood boldly. Honestly I knew from that point my plan was compromised from start, but who knows things might just as well work out, "Faith bro, faith" as I said to myself. If you see the bride crying out of laughter then just know that your fate is limited to a rejection, and as she got back to earth, just three words was said that told us exactly what I wasn't looking for. "That was Hysterical" she said with teary eyes and just walked away. "Iyoh!" I said to my legal team with astonishment over my face, "Really!!" I screamed out but continued laughing my guts out. Well so much for an attempt to reverse things hey.

As that came to a conclusion, we were called to the hall to for some words of wisdom and soon we all got there.

Earlier in the day we were asked to draw up a portrait of how we viewed this weekend as, so now it was time to explain to everyone what we drew and what significant meaning it brought to us. It was pretty interesting to see each others portraits and how they meant to each of their artists, very enlightening to our souls. After the session, the group were taken to the barn fire area in preparation for a special service at the hall, some of the leaders stayed behind, while the others had to monitor the group at the barn fire. I stayed behind to help prepare the hall and we did an awesome job. After that was done, we went to join the others at the barn fire and then we were told to stand in a line away from our friends. We went to the hall to enjoy the beautiful session that was prepared specially for us. It was amazing, the theme was dark and neon tubes were offered to us to give an awesome effect. The session went for like close to four hours and when it was concluded, we suggested an 'after party' session.

Yoh it was very awesome hey, we played house music and danced to the beat. Obviously the mood was full of vibe and so I went straight to my wife, and without words I just danced. Due to my insufficient dancing skills, I didn't care about my pride or who was saying what, I just danced the night away. She loved my energy and so she joined me, honestly that was just an incredible moment for myself, and I know for her as well. We really did enjoy our time at the dancing stage, booty shaking, hip whipping, boogy froggin', all was done. There was even a dance off hey. Wow, this girl can really dance hey, I was surprised to know this. She was representing the 'us' team. "Thank you Lord Father for this unforgettable moment" I prayed to myself, as it was time for us to call it a night, oh and BTW, it was 3am at that time. I wished her a wonderful night sleep and off I went.