“Jy’s vol stront” Prunella.

“Why Frikkie? Or rather, why today Frikkie? What have I done to dash my image of perfection…?”

Sound effects….

“What was that, a snort, a grumble, a passive-aggressive non-verbal cue?” Frikkie gives me that look.

“Why did you sign that story with 3 greetings in 3 different languages?”

“Because everyone should know at least 3 languages.”

“You’re not fluent in 3 languages…”

“If you count gibberish, then that’s almost 5 languages actually Frikkie. Being fluent is an aspiration and I am trying. Menopause makes it tricky as well as being a good reason to keep trying.

And if we’re going to have this conversation, then up front, I’d like to say that non-verbal communication does not count as a language!”

“What about sign language?”

“Jy’s vol stront Frederick!”

Frikkie goes red in the face. I’m not sure if its the Frederick bit. He can change colour like a chameleon. It’s a whole nuther level of non-verbal communication.  If I was that way inclined, it would signal a warning, ‘tread carefully here’. I am not that way inclined.

I give him a sideways look. He gives me a between-the-eyes-frown over his reading glasses look. We hold the gaze fiercely for 12 seconds and then I see that twerk on his lip and my eyebrows lift and 10 seconds later we are both laughing quietly into our tea cups.

I love it when we both recognize a moment of choice at the same time. Our ‘would you rather be right or happy’ non-verbal eye-brow lift and shake-of-the-head, these days can even lead to full blown laughter when we’re clever enough to recognize how short life really is and what it is that really matters.

As Sonja says, “Its laugh, cry or go crazy in this funny old world of ours”. I count it as a gift and part of my core skills that I can easily express all three at the same time. Frikkie’s not sure it’s a gift. Sonja understands.

Phela Phela ngantsomi – Fluit fluit my storie is uit – Don’t believe a word I say

(p.s. ‘Jy’s vol stront’… politely translated means ‘you’re full of it’)