Remember our Take Heart Campaign?

It’s part of our Round-the-World Travelling with Diabetes journey, and essentially what it is is a wee bit of inspiration for all of us… Obviously my chronic condition is diabetes, because that’s what we’ve had to live with, but what we want to say is that no matter what your condition -  whether it’s something emotional or mental or physical – no matter what’s holding you back, you can take heart in the fact that it is possible to follow your dreams.

As an illustration of this, we’ve had a handmade heart made in every country we’ve visited. The end of Vietnam was such a whirlwind that I didn’t have a chance to post our Take Heart Vietnam video, but here it is now:

And then here’s the one from Indonesia:

Which do you prefer? (I love them both – you know how I feel about hearts!!)

I am SO happy! I can’t even tell you. I’ve been grinning nonstop since yesterday evening (yes, all through the night – I hardly slept a wink!)

So here’s how it happened…

Yesterday around 6pm Mark told me he had a surprise for me, and that I had to meet him on the beach in half an hour… We’ve been staying in a charming little fishing village called Amed, on the North coast of Bali (in Indonesia) for the last five nights, and we’ve loved every second of it. Not at all touristy (unlike the rest of Bali), fantastic scuba diving, incredible snorkelling, and superb grilled prawns and Indonesian delicacies eaten right on the beach. Divine.

So I head down to the beach and there’s a part of me that’s thinking, ‘Is he about to propose?’ because it was all so mysterious. But I had a feeling he might propose on Christmas Day and he didn’t, so I didn’t want to get my hopes up.

I walk to the restaurant where he said he’d meet me, and what do I see? No Mark. But the waitress was all clued up, handed me two fresh mango juices (our favourite, unbelievably sweet and fresh and yummy) and told me to wait a few minutes.

Less than two minutes later, I see Mark heading towards shore on a local fisherman’s boat. Looked something like this:

I climb on board and off we go, on a ’sunset cruise’, he tells me. So we’re sitting out there soaking up the view (a volcano, an island fringed with palm trees, an endless horizon in the other direction, the clouds streaked pink with sunset just around the corner, a half moon starting to rise) and sipping our mango juice.

Dusk is my favourite time of day, the ocean is my favourite place to be, I have a thing about endless horizons. And Mark’s all fidgety and looks nervous, so of course I’m wondering what’s up. Then he pulls out a dozen candles and lights them and I start to feel like I know what’s coming up…

After many more minutes of a really magical slice of my life, Mark turns to me and says, “Will you marry me?”
I was so happy I couldn’t even speak – crying and laughing at the same time, honestly it’s the best feeling in the world! But of course I said yes.

And then he gave me my ring – a bamboo ring he’d found in Thailand (and been carrying around for the last four months!) with strips of silver that he’d had a local silversmith in Gili Air (the island we were on last week) put in. I love it! It’s just perfect – I told him once that I wanted a ring I could swim in the sea with. It’s so me.

And now we’re ENGAGED!!! And we are both on Cloud Nine. It’s a lovely place to be.

Trail Walking

We have a little tradition, here in Cape Town. Every Sunday (or Saturday if the weather is better), Mark and I go on a Nature Walk. It doesn’t have to be for long – usually only an hour or two – but it does have to be somewhere in wild, unspoilt nature. We’ve done forests, mountains, beaches and wide open spaces… And we’ve got it down to a fine art.

Constantia Nek

We strap on our sensible walking shoes, pack some snacks (usually fresh fruit) and make sure we have a water bottle or two on hand. Then we head off, walking slowly at first, to warm up, but gradually getting faster and faster, till we’re striding along, taking great big lungfuls of fresh air. Sometimes we’ll talk, sometimes we’ll be silent, lost in our own thoughts or the beauty of our surroundings. Sometimes it will be a lighthearted, playful nature walk, other times it will be quiet and peaceful. You never really know until you’re in the middle of it… that’s the beauty of exploring nature.

Orange Slices

Although I also love that it opens up your mind. I said to Mark yesterday, as we were clambering along a rocky path on beautiful Silvermine (we made a video – we’ll post it soon!) that getting into nature lets my mind work in different ways. It seems to wake up and stretch, to walk along unfamiliar pathways, to think of things I wouldn’t think of at home, in my everyday routine.

And that’s what I’m so excited about for our forthcoming trip… I’m so excited that we are going to be confronted with things that make us think differently, and look differently, and feel and hear and smell differently, every single day. And that we’re doing it together. Because no matter how beautiful the surroundings, it’s infinitely more beautiful when you’re doing it right next to someone you love.