GIFTS

Dressed. Ready. Standing at the gate, waiting for the ride to the university campus, our walking track, in my luminous pink top and walking shorts.

I had asked S to be at my gate for 4.40pm. I held my bag of chilled water and stood there waiting as cars drove past. A few droplets fell, I looked at the dark, simmering clouds and knew then that the walk was cancelled.

Feeling disappointed, but not exactly giving up, I tried calling S. It had suddenly started spitting the dots of rain staining the driveway. S had sent a photo of her windscreen with a few rain drops, signalling the cancellation.

“What a shame!” I thought.

We planned to take advantage of the October break to catch up on the kilometres we had missed because of S’s extended Summer holiday.

A few minutes later, it was pouring, the sound of the rain overtook the sound of any cars coming my way. Now, the sloping driveway had rain water drifting towards the gate.

We would have been drenched if we had left any earlier.

I texted her back, “Man proposes, God disposes.”

Our walking challenge of 500km this year is a stretch, as we are not even half way there. With our time constraints, this will be a push, but we are determined to complete the challenge.

We have a plan, with all the kilometres worked out and will sacrifice some weekend hours to achieve our goal, as long as the rain permits us.