A world without Writers is a World without Books

Books are the doorway to immense wealth in the sense of knowledge gained, to using one's imagination into a world unlike the one we live in. How many of you still indulge in reading? Most seem to loose the lustre of reading when they hit the adult world. No longer have time for it, way too busy with work or with the raising of children. How many of you still read to your children at night or even during the day? Do you open their minds to all the possibilities out there in their imagination or do you just plonk them in front of the television or games centers so that they can entertain your child.

To me books hold the key to the wonders of the world. Whether you love the good old fashion book with the pages and scents of around the world or the electronic kind that is for easy usage. They are filled with the sights and sounds of the outside world. They can take you anywhere you want to go. To the cultures around the world, to the workings of a politicians mind, to the escapism from reality into the world of Dragons and Knights, of Murder and Mystery. Book or rather should I say to the writers around the world I say thank you for your amazing ability to take us readers to wherever we want to go. To be able to suck us into your world through your brilliant usage of words.

I cannot see our world without our writers...... can you?

Parenting

As children we thought that being a parent sucked. They were strict and restricted us from having fun. They were like a prison guard and monitored our every move and that proverbial “Blue Bird” that told all, especially when we hit those delightful teenage years. Oh how we revolted against having parents. The curfew times where a drag and seriously stunted our fun days.  And didn’t you just hate it when they threw that “wait till you have kids then you will understand” at you.

Then we hit the 20 something years and we start to see our parents through new eyes. We turned to them for advice on certain things, learned on them a bit more for moral support and also the financial support. Then we have our own children and boy does it hit home. Those words that were uttered by our parents come back to haunt us. The “wait till you have kids” speech. That speech turns out to be so true. How do then turn to our parents for more than just moral support, we turn to them and see them in a new light. How do we appreciate our parents now? We can now see what they went through, all the sacrifices that they made so that we could live without fear and worries. The truths that they kept hidden from us on finances and food worries. How much they gave up just so that we, as children, would not go without. 

The boundaries that they set up for us then make sense to us know. Why they were set up was to keep us safe and to give us structure. The discipline given was to make us into the mature grown adults we are today. So what do we do? We start to do the same with our children. We try to give them the same safe structure that was given to us. We try to instil into them the history that was given to us. We turn into our parents…..the ones that we always use to say that we didn’t want to be like. The same words come out of our mouths……but, yet, this time around we are proud to be like them. Proud to have turned into the adults we are today because of what they did for us. All we can hope for is that what we were taught we can carry over into our children and hope and pray that they turn out to be well adjusted mature adults too.

I use to dread turning into my Mother, now, when I look into the mirror and see her face staring back at me I am quite proud to be called My Mother’s Daughter. I miss her a lot, I miss her laughter, her nutty ways and most of all her wisdom and her love. Never take your parents for granted because the day will come when they are no longer around and the longing for days gone by hits you like a brick wall. All the “what ifs” come rushing in so do now what you can for them. Love them and care for them even if they are hard to live with because when they are gone, they are gone for good. Soak up all the wisdom and advice that they give you even if you do not need it now as there will come a day when you do need it and it is residing in you to take it and use it.

Parenting is not an easy thing to do. You make mistakes but you learn by it. No parent is perfect, even your own parents. It is a full time occupation and not to be taken lightly. It is never over even when your children have children of their own. It is for a life time and can be a most amazing experience that we are blessed with.

Parents…..love them, enjoy them, and take care of them and most of all Treasure them.

Enter the New Year

Day 2 of the year 2017 and the world still seems to be asleep. The remembrance of the celebrations are still hanging in the air. Even the cars sound slow on the roads outside. It is as if time has stood still, awaiting the awakening of the world to the New Year. The Auld Lange Syne has been sung and the streamers have been thrown, champagne corks have popped and toasts have been toasted. Families have gotten together and had their family time for the New Year’s Day braai time. Christmas decorations are ready to be put away and out comes the “get ready for the back to school” goodies.

New Year’s Resolutions are being made only to be broken within the first month. My resolution is not to make any but to just improve myself and my way of life. To not make myself miserable with all the “what ifs” that still hang ripe in the air. To take this year by the horns and run with it. To make it my own. The Astrologists and Numerologists have said that the year 2016 was the year of endings and now the New Year of 2017 is to be the Year of New Beginnings. Which I find very apt in my line of thought. I have a new grandchild on the way, my other little cowboy turns a whole glorious 1 year and I have a new daughter in law on the way. I intend to push forward and grow my little online second hand book store and just throw myself wholeheartedly into this year.

To have no regrets, to strive to live to the fullest, to love my God even more and to totally stand in His Faith and shine in His Grace. To own this bloody peri menopause crap that I am going through and to strive to see the good in all the bad, to see the silver lining in that which goes wrong. To learn by my mistakes and to own them. To grow as a person and yes, to even try to eat a lot healthier.

My goals are simple and obtainable so as the sleepy, humid Day 2 creeps into the afternoon, I find that my heart and mind are in sync with each other. To love more and to live more. God willing I have another good 30 – 40 years left on this great Earth so I want to enjoy them to the best of my ability. I want to live to the grand old age of in my 90s and have fun with my grandchildren. To become that Nana that will make an impact on their lives. I want to be able to impart my knowledge to not only them but to those I come into contact with.

We live a life and learn and to go to the grave without sharing our knowledge is surely not what this life is all about. To help others, to teach others, to learn from others and be helped by them. We are given this life to learn and teach and to grow and to enjoy what is given to us.

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis

Goodbye 2016

Last night I lay in bed awake for a long time. At times like that I tend to mull over my life and the. Last night was one of those nights….

I went over the last 2 years of my life and realised that I have been such a douche…. I had been asking for independence and the ability to be my own person. Here I was berating over the fact that I was again all locked up in a relationship again and was not my own person anymore. Yet on closer inspection I have been my own worst enemy. 

Here I am in a perfect relationship and I could not even see it. I am with a man who is quite happy to be the quiet one. He has no qualms with me finding my own way, to be adventurous, to start new things. He is not standing my way at all, he is actually my lighthouse that stands there quietly and shows me the way when I lose it.

I have started my vegetable garden, changed my hair colour, gone down to Cape Town, finished an online counselling course and started my small online business and this gentle man has just stood by and allowed me my space. Here I have been frustrated over my life thinking that he is the one pulling me down yet I am the one that is pulling myself down. Yes, I am financially stunted but that is not his fault but my own.

So as the year of 2016 comes to an end I have come to the realisation that 2017 can only be one of the best years yet to come. As I prepare to enter the New Year with a new look on life it can only be good. I am independent, I am free, I am capable of doing whatever I put my mind to it. No more lamenting over the past spilt milk and time to get rocking onto my life as the good Lord intended me to.

So, Goodbye 2016 you were a good year…. Now it is time to say Hello to 2017 which I deem to be an even greater one.

Our Senses

Our senses. Sight, smell, touch, sound and taste.  Most of us don’t even use them to their fullest. Those that loose one of them find that the others become heightened. The blind find that their sense of smell, touch and taste become much more intense, especially sound. To the deaf they find that their sense of touch and smell become intense. We take them for granted until we lose one of them. We need to treasure what was given to us and not neglect them through time.

Have you ever just closed your eyes and then listened to the sounds that surround you. Close your eyes when you take a morsel of food and find how different food tastes. Allow your taste buds to explore the taste and texture of the food.  Sitting outside watching the sun set and the wonder hit me again. It is amazing how even our sight we take for granted. I was watching the bats weave and dip around the trees and structures. Their sense of sound in the sound waves they omit gives them the grace to fly so fast in the dark. I often sit outside in the cool afternoon and just close my eyes and clear my mind. I allow the sounds of my surroundings to filter through and relish the touch of the gentle breeze as it caresses my skin. I find myself at peace with the world and myself when I allow my senses to roam free.

When last have you actually sat down and look at the wonders around you. The wind gently teasing the leaves of the nearby tree, the sound of the bees as they hover over the sweet promise of nectar from the colourful flowers. Look at a child as they play and discover nature, the absolute pure joy in chasing a butterfly, the jumping over and in a puddle. When they taste something for the first time. God in His Infinite Wisdom blessed us with these wonders and when we have small children we tend to see all the wonders again through their eyes.  When we acknowledge our senses our lives become more enriched in my opinion. God has built this glorious wonderland called Earth for us to explore to the fullest.  We need to literally stop and smell the roses again, to breathe in that roasted coffee aroma, to feel the silkiness of running water as it flows over our skin. To see our world around us, to touch the softness of a baby’s skin. We need to wake up and become one with the universe around us. To stop being in robot mode and start to enjoy the life that we have been given.

We are not immortal and we need to remember this before it is too late. Life is for the living, we must remember that we are here to live and learn not just to make money and work and try to out do the next person. We cannot take our possession with us when we die. So enjoy what you have now.

Short Poem

NEED TO

Locked away

Screaming inside

Lost and alone

Fighting for sanity

Crawling to safety

Need freedom

Need to cry

Need to fly

Fire burning

Bright and high

Need to go

Need to shout

Need to scream

Need to GO

Musings of 2016

As the year drawers to a close we tend to look back and see what we have done for the year. To be honest this year has flown by pretty quickly for me. A blink of an eye and the year is gone. This year I have gained a gorgeous little Grandson and have started a small online second hand book store called Ambrosia. I have started 2 blogs, one a personal diary type and now a funky travel blog. I hope that one day it will hit off and get some good followers.  I have finished a course in Methods of Counselling and have yet to receive the Certificate but have completed it with good marks. I am very proud of myself for that. I have planted a vegetable garden and am proud of the sweat I planted towards it. It has flourished and is showing much “fruit”.  As to personal growth I can’t say that I have grown much as a person. I seem to be stagnate in that area. I have had my ups and downs on the emotional rollercoaster. I have read a few very good books.

My dreams are still out there of international travel. Maybe the Gods will be good to me and grant me my dreams next year. I know that my country is beautiful and I so hope to be able to travel around it next year as well and post on my travel blog.

So, actually, when I look back on 2016 I have accomplished much even though I have thought that I have not. Maybe, it is not always about personal growth but what we have accomplished as a person. Who knows, maybe next year will be the year of personal growth. Time to get out the Christmas decorations and the tree and to be thankful for what I have and not long for that which I do not have. I should count my blessings daily and not get reminded of it. I have a roof over my head, a warm bed to sleep in and now privacy as well. I have my health and I have my children and grandson and soon another is to join the family. Sometimes the finances are hard but at least I am not sleeping on the pavement. My sons have good jobs and good wives. They have good lives and I am truly blessed to say that I raised my boy’s right. To respect their elders and their parents. I have maybe not been the perfect Mother but my boys are well adjusted and independent men.

So as 2016 drawers to a close I look towards the future with open eyes, with the knowledge that the world is still wide and wonderful. That it holds much for me still. My dreams are still real and possible and I can do all things through His Grace.

The best is yet to come…..