OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

On our last day at Oudrif, early in the morning, I went to the boma to ask for coffee. While the kind people of the place boiled the water, I went down to the river and just stared at the reflecting surface and the yawning light.

I often think of Oudrif when things get out of hand. Just the idea of its calm soothes me. Today, there were two moments when I really had to hold myself together. Nothing truly significant, and eventually all was well, but it is situations like these that remind me that despite everything, I am still running on empty. Coping well, but also only just barely.

Highlights of the day: visit to The Book Lounge to pick up some lovely books I had ordered, short but sweet Skype lunch with Mom and Krystian, tea with a Karavan Press author, dinner with my love. Salieri ate all her food. Today, I picked up enough of her special diet tins to last us through an apocalypse. Although she might be in trouble, if she has to share them with me. No apocalypses, please! (For Salieri’s sake.)

I got my official appointment for my second vaccine. Not where I wanted, and I am still considering a walk-in instead, but I am not sure. Two days to figure it out. I am just happy that there is a dose of a life-saving vaccine with my name on it somewhere in this world.

Tomorrow, we will cross eighty thousand official COVID-19 related deaths in South Africa. The real death toll is probably somewhere around two hundred thousand. To know that I will not join these numbers is nearly impossible to grasp after eighteen months of anxiety. Thank you to all the scientists and health care workers who made this possible. My life might not be easy at the moment, but I love it and I want to continue loving and living with all my being.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD