How did she put up with my absences, not just when I chased waves without her but, even more frequent and protracted, when I went off reporting? The answer changed as we changed. Caroline sometimes left for weeks herself, to visit friends and family in Zimbabwe, and the separations did us good, I thought, at least in our early years. We needed the breaks. Later, it got more difficult to be apart. Caroline retained a firm vein of self-reliance, though. She was unusually good at being alone.
