Eva comes to Africa

Precious and I became engaged and we rented a house on 21 Shottery Crescent in the Southwold neighborhood of Bulawayo. We bought furniture and a new refrigerator and we planted a garden.

That summer, after finishing her freshman year at Oberlin College, my daughter Eva, 18 now, came to visit me. I wired her the money for the ticket, $2,000, but she booked the flight herself and got her passport in order -- such competence!

[The money! I spent too much money on this, buying plane tickets for Eva, renting a house, buying my fiancee furniture and a ring. I should never have gone to Africa. I should have stayed in America and bought real estate.]

I already knew that the daughter of a single Dad has close to veto power over any new love interest of mine. Conflict between daughter and fiancee was not thinkable. I wanted them to meet, hoping they would get along and come to an understanding, even like each other.

Eva and Precious did not clash, except the one time, when we visited Victoria Falls and Eva bought a pair of green nylon swim trunks and then Precious, the next day, bought the same exact green swim trunks for herself. "Why did she buy the kind I bought?" she said. I said take it as a compliment.

Otherwise, no they weren't going to be buddies, but sharing was possible and I was let alone to pursue my own goals.

Eva helped around the house -- as you can see.

She also climbed the mountains in Chimanimani and got lost on the trail, and had to spend the night out in the wild, starting a fire by tearing pages out of her guide book and huddling for warmth. Such an adventure.

Then she visited the ruins of Great Zimbabwe wearing her high school prom dress. What possessed her to bring her high school prom dress to Africa?