Pamela Josephine Smith, here present in these photo’s, was my bestest best friend at school and is pretty much the reason I passed Matric. I’m relatively dom when it comes to anything to do with numbers- and well, Josie is not dom at all. In fact she’s quite the genius. How she stayed friends with me, is quite the mystery…wait, I lie. It’s not a mystery- the answer is my mom’s amazing rusks! I’d feed her rusks whilst she’d explain higher grade trigonometry, geometry and anything remotely to do with physics and chemistry…oh yes and music theory too.

Other than being really clever- Josie also has the biggest heart. This explains why a) she stayed friends with me despite my rusks running out, and b) why she is a medical doctor today. She also helped me through one of the toughest times of my life. After a very traumatic farm attack in my grade 11 year, she was God’s answer to my prayer for support and comfort. Rock steady and the most faithful friend- she helped me make sense of what I was going through- and I will be forever grateful for her support in that time.

Now I know this friendship sounds very lob sided- and you are probably wondering what I contributed to the friendship (besides my mom’s amazing rusks). The answer to that question is co-ords. For all her brains- my dearest friend could not keep from walking into trees. I had to be her guide- much like a blind person needs a Labrador.

But after we left school and went to different varsities, I could sadly no longer be Josie’s let’s-avoid-trees-guide. How she survived all these years without me by her side, I don’t know? Especially with all those trees in Cape Town. None the less- I seem to have been replaced as a guide by Stephen. Who seems to do quite a good job of keeping the ambushing trees away from his bride- as I didn’t see any bumps or bruises on her- as what usually frequented her physique during school.

Also ridiculously smart, funny and just as caring- Steve compliments my dearest friend so well. They got married on Josie’s parents farm near Kenton- and what a stylish farm wedding it was! Poor Sandy and Norman (Josie’s parents) I think needed to go on a month long sabbatical afterwards for all the hard work they poured into getting the farm ready for the 200 odd guests. Thank you all for being such great and gracious hosts. :)

I wish you two all the best for your married life together. May your love for one another continue to grow deeper and deeper each day- and may you be surrounded by the Lord’s goodness and grace throughout your life.  Lots of love and blessings xxx

To my assistant Adel: It was so great working with you again my friend. You’re amazing! :)