So, I'm better...

On Sunday, I got to sit next to Leigh, the cutest little girl, which I always enjoy. Her mother passed shortly after we got here and left Leigh's dad, Eugene, alone with Leigh and Clio. These two kids are the cutest, sweetest kids you'd ever meet and they just love attention; I think Leigh is 4 and Clio might be 7 or 8.
Anyway, Leigh just loves to be held and given physical attention.
An African custom here is go greet people with a kiss on the lips, which no one really does with the guys and I've, I guess, managed to avoid except for Leigh. She comes up and greets me and then runs away for a while.
On Sunday evening, singing night, I was late to the assembly and when I came in I spotted Liz. I love singing with Liz because she sings alto and I love the way it sounds with tenor. I sat down and realized Leigh was sitting next to me.
She loves to play with my phone and my hands.
When I sat down and got settled (I've adopted the grandpa leg cross- the knee on knee and not the right angle ankle-on-knee position that I've used in the past- and then an arm or two across the back of the pew), she scooted in under my arm, grabbed my hand and kept on singing.
After we had been singing for a while and Clio had already fallen asleep on the floor, she put her head on her dad's lap and her feet up against me and just laid there and played with my hand. Liz kept looking over at the cuteness that was happening.
Eventually, she fell asleep, still holding my hand, and I realized that it was okay to leave. It's something that needs to happen, but I just need to drink in moments like these.
Last night we had a party at our house and I went outside to lay on the hammock and look at the stars. Port Elizabeth is beautiful.

I'm going to miss this place and these people and I don't want to leave, but I can't stay just to stay.

I found these on my phone and I thought I'd share them with you; they're from one of the times Leigh played with my phone.