The Sweeper!

Feb19

The grotesque sweeper ploughed down the street, I stopped on my tracks to be sure it was real before I fled to my room. I heard my mom arguing on the phone, she’s uptight today, I told my dad she worked too hard but nobody cared to listen.

But my problems were far from over, the looming sound seemed to burst through my ear drums as the sweeper made its way down the front of our house, when my parents made no attempt to calm my frayed nerves, I ran down the stairs and hid in the cloak room, though it was dark, I felt safe, then I heard my mom calling my name and I began to cry.

She hurried downstairs and brought me out of my darkness, her pretty face a beehive of worry. She loved me, I know but sometimes, I get the feeling, they don’t believe me when I tell everyone who cared to listen that I hate the sound of ‘The Sweeper.’

”It’s all right baby Lou,” she said and straddled me into her arms but there was no stopping my wailing, I hated when she calls me ‘baby Lou’ and I hated the sweeper. My dad came to meet us downstairs and I went straight to him. He cuddled me and called me ‘tiger,’ I kind of prefered tiger to ‘baby Lou.’ I love the sound of trains trudging down the tracks, I love the booming sound of aeroplanes but not the sweeper!

Ten minutes later, I felt better and slowly made my way to the living room, ‘Mickymouse’ was singing on the TV, life is good, my only fear in life is the sweeper! My name is Emmanuel David and I am twenty-five months old!

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I just had to post this, my son hates the sound of the street sweeper and it beats me! I reckon trains and aeroplanes are scarier than the dingy engine sound of the street sweeper!

This is a classic example of what we fear, as adults, we are more afraid of the mundane things in everyday life, the snide comments of haters, or what people think… maybe, the house we live in or our jobs, our relationships with others might cause a great amount of scrutiny but I say, forget such people exist! There would always be haters, live your life as if you’re in paradise.

Just like the lady in the above picture, laugh your problems away! Life is good if we allow it to be so, it’s our reactions to problems that matter most, not the problems!!

Thanks friends for reading my post!

Love, always!! 🙂

Be The Change!

Nov6

English: Black Patent Leather Fetish Shoes 1973 – 1977 These shoes have a 7-inch stiletto heel and are a size 11 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Twenty years ago, (I was seventeen then) I was a young slim girl with long hair, skinny legs and a very big smile, I could give you anything but don’t you dare go near my shoes! And I had a lot of sisters (four to be precise) who all loved my shoes.

One weekend I came home( I just got an admission to the university then) and one of them took my shoes, the best out of about twenty pairs!

Everyone in my family knew about my addiction to this particular pair and Christy, my sister wore it to a party, even though it wasn’t her size. When I told my mom what my sister did, she’d looked at me in a very strange way. I had thought she would come to my defence and tongue lashed my sister for the invasion of my ‘privacy’, the unlawful use of my personal stuff without my say-so but nah! She did no such thing.

I knew my mom did not condone what my sister did but she had a lot to say about my reaction to it, and when I mean a lot, it could be a phrase or word loaded with meaning. Before she spoke, she closed her eyes briefly and when she opened them, there was a twinkle in her brown expressive eyes,

”Be the change in the world and you can sleep with both eyes closed.” She said simply. I didn’t understand what she meant by that statement and wasn’t ready to listen.

”But mom,” I had protested against the obvious injustice of the situation, not the lesson she wanted me to learn, ”I don’t want to change the world, just speak to Christy to stop sneaking behind my back using my things, just tell her to steer clear of my room!”

And I’d stomped out of the house, exasperated with my mom’s unrelenting idiomatic expressions, deep down I thought she was turning me into a villain for protesting but my mom is an incredibly wise woman, she knew in order for me to live in peace with my sisters and brothers, (and now my husband) I should sometimes put myself under the spotlight and see if I am the problem.

Am I been irrational, irritable, unforgiving, selfish, careless and stubborn? Well, the lists can go on and on but as I grew older and had my own family, I finally understood what she was trying to do.

My mom was training me to be a better person, not a fool that could be trampled upon but a disciplined, principled woman who would treat others the way she wanted to be treated. A woman who would respect, love, forgive and appreciate and treat everyone equally, irrespective of their race, religion or sexuality.

If every human being desires to be the change, the world would indeed be a better place. And it’s never too late, take a look at the man, woman, girl, boy in the mirror today and say to him or her ( I am speaking to you, if you’re still reading this post)

”Be the change…”

Battle Of The Birds

Nov2

I was awoken from a very deep sleep with the droning voice of my ten-year old son complaining about his sister’s incessant noise. Well, I had to stand up and calm a rapidly disintegrating situation. I was up till like four in the morning writing my NaNoWrimo novel, so I was not in a very good mood.

Duck mob (Photo credit: jf1234)

And then there was a miracle, my husband had taken the day off work and skillfully rescued my life from the lion cubs (that’s what I call my children when they are in that kind of mood) by suggesting that we all go to the park.

I didn’t think it was a great idea but off we went and we had a blast! The only snag was, I left my camera at home, I would have taken pictures of how Squirrels, Ducks and Geese were battling to have a taste of the nuts my children were carrying. They did give out the nuts but it got to a stage where I was scared we would be mobbed by the ravenous birds.

My son then remarked, ”Mom, it’s the battle of the birds” And that was where I coined the title for this post.

The ducks got the upper hand partly because they were bigger and though the squirrels did put up a good fight, they were outnumbered by the ducks and geese. An hour later, we were on our way home because it was getting cold and I couldn’t help but relate that experience to life generally.

Life is incredibly hard and sometimes just surviving from one day till the next is a mammoth task but we should be very grateful to God for every little blessings!

Now, I’ll get back to my writing…