To Stephanie and Grace - May love bless you with joy, peace, health, wisdom, hope, healing and abundance! Love, Sister Mary James

The last full day in Cape Town was one I needed to myself, at least initially.  I took the time to explore the V&A Waterfront and its shops, including but not limited to Gucci, Hugo Boss, Dolce and Gabana, Nine West, and the Aston Martin and Ducati dealerships.  From there I walked through the city to Long Street and followed a few scruffy, hungry looking kids my age into a hole in the wall restaurant/bar called Mr. Pickwicks, which boasts incredible tin plate specials, cheap pints, and the most enthralling bathroom graffiti outside of Richmond.  I sat for several hours and read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and talked to whomever came my way, including Braam, the construction worker on lunch break who invited me to a place where the local stand up comedians hang around later on in the evening and drew an Om in my notebook.  There are some things you simply shouldn’t say no to.
Stephanie was kind enough to accompany me on my wild-eyed harebrained schemes around the city one last time.  We toasted South Africa over prairie fires (or fairy priers, depending on how many you’ve had) and made our way with Braam to his spot where we were immediately accosted by/introduced to Sister Mary James, the cross-dressing touchy feely ABBA-singing Nun.  If you consider yourself to be a fairly well-adjusted person, I beg you to visit www.youtube.com/sistermaryjames, if only to understand what kind of evening we were thrown into. 
Stephanie and I loved Sister Mary.  We actually bought her CD, signed and sealed with not just one but two kisses and includes such classic hits as “The Way You Make Me Feel,” “YMCA (Extended Remix),” “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go,” and “These Boots Are Made For Walking.”
So there I was, in the craziest bar in South Africa with the funkiest people at the strangest point in my life to date, as if I could honestly have been doing anything else, finally feeling at home.  And just to complete the head on collision course of everything in that moment, a song I had never heard before began to play, as if it could honestly not have been played at any other time.  When the universe speaks, you listen. I bought it the next day.