The Blank Space
Someone asked me recently what the hardest emotional moment of our emigration had been. I thought I should have a big answer. Something dramatic. A crisis, a breaking point, something you could point to and say- that was it. But it wasn’t anything like that. We’d been in the U.S. a few days. Everything still […]
Emigration doesn’t just test you. It tests your marriage.
Nobody really talks about this. We obsess over the visas, the schools, the shipping containers, the logistics of it all. But underneath everything is something far more fragile… your relationship. Marriage is already a lot. Add kids, careers, the daily weight of keeping life together- it’s full before you even start. Then layer emigration on […]
When You Can’t Change the Circumstance, Change the Lens
Yesterday I had a conversation with my 11-year-old son that made me think. He’s been thriving since joining his middle school football team here in the U.S. – training hard, earning his place in the starting lineup, loving every minute. And then, two weeks ago… injury. After X-rays and MRIs, he was diagnosed with a […]
Two Hemispheres, One Heart 🇿🇦 🎄 🇺🇸
Back home in South Africa, summer is in full swing. Schools have wrapped up, “Dezemba” is in the air, and the rhythm slows into long, sunny days, braais, beach holidays, and that familiar end-of-year exhale. Meanwhile here in the U.S., school is still in session until just before Christmas. The air is cold, the evenings […]
When the Visa Clock Starts Ticking ✈️ ⏰
When we landed in the U.S. in August 2022, we didn’t just arrive with suitcases and dreams — we arrived with a mission: To start a new life, get settled into a new country, and build a U.S. division of a South African business from the ground up — all within our first 8–9 months. […]
Celebrate Everything. Even the Little Things. Especially the Little Things. 🥂✨
This weekend, we booked a short family getaway, not because everything is easy right now, but because it’s been three years since we landed in the U.S. Three years of rebuilding, learning, and recreating. Three years of starting over, navigating new, building new, facing challenges, feeling like beginners… all the while still showing up, every […]
Across Oceans, Through Heartache ✈️ 💔 🌍
Emigration is full of layers — some expected, others impossible to prepare for. One of the hardest? Navigating grief across oceans. Just months after we arrived in the U.S., — my dearest high school friend and business partner — received a devastating diagnosis. Despite the odds, she fought courageously and never lost her passion or […]
Abandoners or Adaptors? 🇿🇦 🏉 ✈️ 🇺🇸 🏈
A personal reflection — and maybe a professional one too. My sons grew up playing rugby in South Africa — the kind of rugby that stitches itself into your weekends, your friendships, your childhood. It’s not just a sport back home… it’s a heartbeat. When we moved to the U.S., rugby wasn’t an option at […]
The yellow school bus. 🚌 Do you recognise these from the movies?
You grow up seeing them on TV, probably still do — part of every American childhood storyline — and then suddenly, it’s parked outside your house, and your kids are climbing aboard like it’s the most normal thing in the world. But for me? It still feels surreal. This big, bright, unapologetically yellow bus rolling […]
The Moment You Realise You’re Not Visiting Anymore 🇿🇦 🏘️ 🇺🇸
For a long time after we arrived in the U.S., life felt temporary. Even though we had moved here (with nothing left in South Africa), even though the kids were in school and we were building businesses and routines, there was still this feeling in the background that we were somehow just… passing through. Maybe […]
When Family Visits, its one of the emigration milestones… 🇿🇦 🧳 🇺🇸
When you emigrate, you don’t just pack up your belongings and say goodbye, you leave behind the people who’ve always been your constants. Parents, siblings, nephews, lifelong friends. And no matter how excited you are for the new adventure, the ache of that distance never quite disappears- for you or for them. Last summer, we […]