what I thought then

I never dreamt I'd stay a whole decade in a troubled southern African country, much less raise a child here. I grew up in rural England, the oldest of three girls. We wore Laura Ashley dresses on Sundays. I kept rabbits -- pedigree Himalayan dwarfs -- in the backyard. The nearest I ever got to any kind of a snake was a sign saying 'Beware of Adders' in the Chambers Woods in Lincolnshire. After university, I moved to Paris. If I ever thought there of having kids (and I don't think I did much), I imagined a bigger flat avec vue sur la Tour Eiffel. A jeune fille au pair. Saturday afternoons sailing those wonderful boats with big white sails on the pond in the Jardin du Luxembourg. Chic ensembles from Petit Bateau. Arriving for Sunday afternoon tea at Tante Marie-Jeanne's bearing one of those beribboned white boxes full of dainty little multi-coloured patisseries. This was not the life I got.