Like mother, like daughter
2008-05-08
Malané Bosman
MOTHER and daughter, Lynn and Wendy Roux of Paarl, fight like cat and dog. But in every disagreement they always reach an agreement. Wendy is 26, but she wouldn’t mind being 13 again! Her mother would disagree. Wendy was no easy teenager and gave her mother and the teachers at Paarl Girls’ High school hell. “I hated her and I hated discipline,” says Wendy. “I participated in everything I could find to join in – sport, piano, violin, singing. But when my mother insisted that I practise, I refused.” Lynn recalls: “Wendy was an easy-going child, but very demanding. If she wanted something done, she wanted it done, and now! And never tell her something cannot be done. She’ll go out to prove it is possible. “Wendy is very determined and focused. Because we are so alike, I understood, although I handled her with difficulty. Like me, she is a perfectionist.” From school, this youngest of the brood went on to study graphics and textile design and then to the Academy for Design and Photography at Stellenbosch where she obtained a degree cum laude. After a stint overseas, she returned to Paarl to open the Off the Wall Contemporary art gallery. “We fight like cat and dog,” Wendy smiles. “But there is unconditional love between the two of us. In every disagreement we always reach an agreement. We never leave it hanging, and that is important for motherdaughter relationships.” Lynn was not always an estate agent. She was born in Johannesburg, grew up in the Eastern Cape, taught in Zimbabwe. She has her own basket of creativity. With her flair for needlework, knitting and patchwork, she taught home economics before moving to Wellington where she married the late Hennie Roux. Already in property, she joined Trevor Harris 13 years ago. Together they own the Remax estate agency in Paarl. Trevor keeps an eye on Wendy’s finances and supports her one hundred percent. “He makes me feel safe. He is the balance in the relationship between my mother and I. When the sparks fly, Trevor simply say `O please, girls, come on, the temperature is rising’ and the argument would be defused.” “I don’t mind the hard work I’m doing now. I love to operate and to organise. I have found my niche,” Wendy says. And mother Lynn smiles. She no longer has to force Wendy to do what she thinks she should be doing. Instead, she runs around in overdrive, to keep up with the creativity of her blue-eyed daughter. She fetches. She carries. And she sees to it that Wendy gets a proper meal. “I love the life I’m living with Wendy. I love being around artists. I have collected art since I was a little girl. Now I get to go to the Kanna Awards with Wendy, to the KKNK. When she says there is accommodation for two, I get packing.” When they are not running around after art and artists, they go on holiday together. “It’s wonderful to see things through the younger generation’s eyes,” says Lynn. To which Wendy shakes her blonde head: “Like when I’m exhausted in the early hours of the morning and she is still going strong, listening to a band with plugs in her ears!”
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