15 September 2006

STERI-MILK NOSTALGIA - Friday, 15 September 2006 Thanusha, a recently qualified attorney and colleague of mine had me reliving the past. Upon walking into my office this Friday morning she handed me a plastic bag with two bottles of Steri-Milk.

I saw a bottle of Steri-Milk for the first time when I was about three years old. At this time I was in an Orphanage in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. My mum (passed away in 1999) who adopted me when I was three-and-a-half years old was a remedial teacher at the Orphanage. I remember clearly how I use to stand on the tip of my little toes to be able to peep through her classroom window to see whether the tea tray has arrived. If it was there I couldn't wait for her to pour me half a cup of Steri-Milk. This was nearly a daily occurrence. Six months later she adopted me. So, there you see, Steri-Milk could make miracles happen.

Me and Thanusha were chatting about milk one day. We perhaps got onto this subject because we are always the ones to keep the office fridge stocked with milk. I mentioned to her that whilst growing up on the farm 'Skuilhoek' I was often afforded the opportunity of milking a cow. I loved doing this, but only if the cow's hindlegs were tied up as I have seen many a milker being kicked whilst milking. I remember dipping my fingers into a huge tub of Vaseline - this made your fingers slide smoothly over the cow's tits. It was hard work to milk a cow. The cow could sense whether it was an experienced or inexperienced milker handling her tits. So me, obviously being inexperienced, always got the cow all up tight resulting in a serious battle to get just a cup of milk out of her tits.

As a farmgirl I could not stand the smell of fresh farm milk nor even drinking it. I use to get nauseous when my uptown girls came visiting and squeezed the milk straight from the cows' tits into their mouths. They could not get enough of the hot fresh farm milk. Once in a blue moon mum them would purchase a bottle of Steri-Milk, which was a huge treat for me as this was the only type of milk I loved drinking. Whilst reminiscing about the past with Thanusha I mentioned to her that I don't know when last I have seen a bottle of Steri-Milk in the local supermarket. I did not think that it existed anymore. So what a surprise when she gave me the packet with even 'two' bottles of Steri-Milk. The expiry date is December 2006. So I have got quite a bit of time during which I can savour the taste of Steri-Milk again!

Thanks my friend for making my past special again.

- Cowgirl signing off

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:40 PM

    Milk in bottles - now that takes me back to my youth. In those days we used to have our milk delivered to our door. We would take turns to put the right number of bottles out every evening with little disks inside them which indicated to the "milkman" how many bottles to leave behind. An occasional treat was getting orange juice delivered as well.

    Michelle

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  2. Anonymous9:31 AM

    I have to admit...I have never seen anyone react like that to a couple of bottles of milk. But honestly, had i known that it was going to invoke such emotions i probably wouldnt have done it. The memories must be really special. Treasure them. And you are more than welcome my friend...Anything for a feel good moment.
    Love
    Thanusha

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  3. Anonymous9:35 AM

    This beautiful story really touched my heart Desire - it just shows God's goodness to us in many different ways - thanks for putting it on the blog!

    ReplyDelete

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