Forks in the road Series. Number 1

I have decided I need to be distracted so for now we are leaving spazzy tongues and brain cysts and going down memory lane for a few strolls.  Do you ever think back and wander what life would be like had you turned left instead of right?  A time where you were faced with a choice or forced to take a certain path and the spin off effects keep rippling until your life is so very different from what it could be.  Being a bit of a deep thinker, I clearly do and this year was also a major fork time in my life where it was going to change enormously and a whole different movie would have been choreographed and filmed. 

We need the luxury and hind-site of  time to make sense of the new direction and see why its the one we are on.   Much of the new direction is our own choices but often its God or fate or simply circumstances nudging us in a whole new direction.   I think my very first real fork happened when I was 16 and met a talent scout on the beach in Clifton.  He was from an agency in Cape Town and would scout for new faces.  (He was that guy in the Tex choc ad where he would shoot holes in the billboard, remember?)   I was a little poppie from Durbanville who had been warned about just such men.   Unfortunately for him he wore a white speedo.  Sies!    In my town men wore baggies, not white lycra speedos where I could see their whole ugly winky and ballas.   (Yes I know I wasn't supposed to look but the speedo was very white and tight!)  Like all sensible girls I politely took his business card but ignored him and never called the agency.  Months later my friend decided to start modelling and went to that very same agency.  It got me thinking that perhaps it was legit after all and I should give this a go.   I went to see them and the 1st shoot was arranged.   My mom came with and we got stuck in the lift in the parking lot.  Nothing like spending a half hour in an enclosed space with complete strangers to fuel ones nerves.  The shoot was soft and pretty with minimal make up.  The photographer was Bruce Granville Mathews who later did really well and he was non pervy and a good intro.

Me?  Is this me?    We loved the pics and all of a sudden the whole world of modelling burst open and I did 2 shoots in the 1st week.  A very naff Sarie cover and a lovely shoot for Style magazine.  The next 4 years entailed many shoots and loads of international travel and even though I hated much of the modelling world, it did force me out of my shy little shell and see the world expand and change colour and teach me how much more there was out there.   One moment and everything changes and the experience of travel and people out of my comfort zone add a new flavour that is part of the recipe of my me-ness.  I love it and it does remind me that every path we take comes with its own merits, its own beauty and joy and also pain and tough times.  Next fork post will be about love and how meeting one man made me do a massive turn around and all that my alternative journey brought me.



The very 1st pic of me, just turned 16 and such a baby.