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One of the goals I've set for myself for this new phase of my life was to do some research on the history of my family and to build a family tree which shows my ancestry.

When I started working on this I was in for the double suprise.

Firstly, how quickly it can be done these days with all the Internet resources available, eg apps like geni.com and Geneanet. Before I started I thought it was going to be a tediously long and frustrating process - visiting archives, searching through baptismal registers, corresponding with distant relations, going down rabbitholes and reaching deadends.

Great was my surprise when I realised that I could draw my patrilineal line from the first Bartlett to settle in South Africa (the missionary of the London Missionary Society, John Bartlett, born in 1788 and died in 1849) to my own immediate in about 3 hours time.

The "Bartlett Church" at Campbell in the Northern Cape:

The station at Campbell drawn by Charles Bell in 1835, with the church at the left:

In the process I discovered mothers and grandmothers with surnames like Haarhof, Maartens, De Beer and Ludik (wich happens to be my middle name) and also a generous sprinkling of Huguenot surnames like Viljoen, Joubert, Le Febré, De Grave, Cronjé and Taillefer.

My second surprise was when I came across an article about the origin of the Bartlett surname. The article starts by stating very generally:

"BARTLETT is an ancient Norman name that arrived in England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The name BARTLETT comes from the personal name Bartholomew."

I was further intrigued when I read the following:

"The first of the family was Adam Barttelot, an esquire in the retinue of Brian, a Knight, and they came into England with William, the Conqueror, and fought at Hastings."

Scene from the Battle of Hastings, 1066, Bayeux Tapestry:

But what truly blew my mind was the next bit of information:

"The Bartlett family owes it's beginning to King Pepin and Queen Bertha of France. The parents of King Charles I (aka Charlemagne) and his sister Bertha. Now Bertha married Milo, Duke of Aigiant and they are the parents of the Bartlett line. Their son, christened by the name of Berthaelot, a diminutive of Bertha became the favorite of his uncle (Charlemagne) who watched over him."

King Pepin The Short, first king of the Franks and father of Charlemagne and Bertha, and grandfather of the first of the Bartlett line:

Charlemagne/Carolus Magnus, Holy Roman Emperor:

Oh, my goodness! This is mind-boggling and will take me some time for me to come to terms with.

But, ok. Calm down. Carry on as always.

Last Friday the 1st of March was in a sense the fist day of the rest of my life.

The day before, the 29th of February, was not only Leap Day (the extra day added to the calendar every four years), but also the last official working day of my formal career.

I started the Friday morning with some reading and came across these words by Walter Brueggemann:

"You've got to become as vulnerable and innocent and dependent as a little child. You've got to forego your social position, your achievements, your wealth, your reputation. You've got to let go of all the things that make you self-sufficient and alienate you from the wonder of the gift of God. Start over in vulnerability, in innocence, and in dependence..."

What a perfect message for me embarking on this new stretch of my life journey. Challenging words, but also reassuring that what lies ahead will be ok. Or in the age-old words of Julian of Norwich:

"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."

Ever since I was a child I enjoyed long trips by car or train. Only recently have I learnt to call those by car "road trips".

Of course, a road trip is more than just a long journey. It's a multi-day experience. Taking whistle-stops in out-of-the-way towns and villages. Drinking good coffee in quaint little shops and enjoying things like melktert and koeksisters.

Road-tripping means staying over in guesthouses in places like Colesberg, Hanover or Richmond; Kimberley, Victoria West or Calvinia; or on farms near Britstown and Carnarvon; or with friends in Bloemfontein, Bedford or Beaufort West. It's always a discovery, not only of hospitality, but also of unexpected spiritual and intellectual companionship. And of plates loaded with honest food served with ample wine.

When our kids were small we always tried to reach our destination as soon as possible - be it the place where were to spend our holiday, or home on our journey back - frequently travelling through the night.

The result was that it was more about the destination than about the journey. A lot of things got lost in the process: the landscape, the small towns, the opportunity to wind down the moment the journey started, opening yourself up to new places and interesting people. And most of all, the stars at night. Nowhere else have I seen such a glorious display of the night sky as on the plains of the Karoo.

Nowadays we do it differently. Taking our time. Making frequent stops. Staying over and going for long walks after a day's travel. Discovering bookshops and bakeries; coffee shops and "padstalletjies"; arts and crafts and home made jams, preserves and chutneys.

And of course, taking time means meeting people, having conversations, connecting on more than an artificial level.

Sad to say good bye to the house in Parkview, Johannesburg where we've lived for the past almost 12 years.

We were happy here and are sad that we are leaving it behind.

The garden was our joy.

But now it's time to go.

The third act

A TED talk of a few years ago by actress Jane Fonda speaking about "Life's third act" has been on my mind the last couple of weeks and months.

See, on turning 65 in March last year I reached the retirement age in the church where I've been serving as minister since my late twenties. My employer gave me another year to carry on working. But at the end of this month on the 29th of February I reach the end of this period of grace, leaving me with the question: "What lies ahead for me now?"

Referring to the "longevity revolution" we've been experiencing in our times Fonda uses the term "the third act of life" to describe the last three decades of life - which is actually the more or less 30 years that have on average been added to the life people of our generation.

She points out that this part of our life is actually a developmental stage of life with its own significance which should lead us to ask the question: "How do we use this time? How do we live it succesfully?"

Using this time in the right way, says Fonda, can result in "the upward ascension of the human spirit bringing us into wisdom, wholeness, and authencity"

My wife and I are relocating from Johannesburg to the rural village of Riebeek West in the Western Cape province and will take on new challenges and responsibilities about which we are quite excited.

My hope for this new phase of our life is that it will be a meaningful "third act" and that I will grow in wisdom, wholeness, and authenticity.

One of the things that I've decided to do at the start of this new stage of my life is to start this blog - Blog away Bartlett - and in this way to keep record of my new experiences. I have in mind to write about the books that I read and the music that I listen to, about the new community where we will settle, about the process of growing old gently (I hope), about our new house called "Keerweder" with its beautiful garden, about time spent with our children, grandchildren, and friends and so forth. In between I will write down my reflections on church and theology, society and politics.

I do it for myself, but it will bring me much joy if others find it worthwhile to read and to become part of the conversation.