Until recently, it had been a while since I spent ‘quality time’ with the special mother figures granted to me in my childhood years. If you have been reading my blog posts then you might be aware of what I am talking about. If you haven’t, worry not – the long story short is the universe was kind to bless me with the gift of a special friend of my biological mom’s and an auntie who have been there for me over the years – as advisors, parents and cheerleaders. These are probably the only two people I take a minute to mumble a short word of blessing over their lives every morning – because I sometimes get too lazy to ‘pray’. But when I remember that I am blessed to have two mothers who, by the way, are very prayerful people – the type who pray before meals, before bedtime, first thing in the morning or any other opportunity, the least I can do really is declare a blessing over their lives – nothing complicated. I like to think it is because of these ladies that I am always ready and set to face anything that the world throws at me, stand up tall and speak boldly without a blink of an eye.
It is often said that we should create time for the people we cherish, because once gone we cannot take it back.
But many are the times we trade off materialism to actual time spent with loved ones – I am a victim of the same so will take this bullet as well. Coincidentally as I was browsing my Linked-In feed earlier this morning, I came across a post by a CEO of a certain company who, together with the employees have established a culture of visiting each other’s parents back in the countryside. You can tell from the pictures that the parents for whom the most recent visitation had been done were overjoyed and no amount of money can buy that kind of happiness. Reading this post reminded me of the one time a group of friends and I decided to do an almost similar thing in 2023 and visited a friend’s parent in the countryside. The feeling was phenomenal. We haven’t done anything like that thereafter in part because friendships change with time which is a normal thing so don’t beat yourself too hard if your past friendships don’t seem to be working anymore no matter how much effort you plough in. I think I have also written a few things about the subject of friendship evolution in a past post, can’t remember which post it was unfortunately. I do occasionally come across healthy friendship relations in work circles or newspaper articles full of inspiration on how to invest in working networks and keep the flame burning throughout your lifetime.
Time with loved ones is precious and priceless. It brings a certain level of satisfaction – unprecedented. You indulge in nuggets of wisdom shared in a rather subtle way via regular conversations. For example, I remember one evening when we found ourselves talking about families who lived under very difficult situations in a nearby informal settlement, the struggles they went through daily such as no food to eat or a decent home to sleep. However, these families were happy to be alive and kicking through each day. In yet a different conversation we spoke about staying with one employer throughout one’s entire working lifetime because in our generation this would be difficult – but is something our old folks easily up managed until retirement. It is hard to achieve the kind of satisfaction or shall I say complacency to stay in the same place for decades. We are always looking for new challenges and opportunities, albeit elsewhere whether the present environment is conducive or not. So how exactly did they do it? I don’t have a specific answer to this question, but part of the advice received was on the importance of first identifying what your big picture or goal in life is. If your current work environment allows you to get there, then you adapt and live through it despite the obstacles.
But learning is not restricted to conversations, as we know, actions speak louder than words. There are times when learning points can be found through simple gestures e.g. grooming moments over light banters or catching up while preparing meals and learning a cooking tip that somehow skipped you while growing up. Finally, the quality of air we breathe while at the countryside is healing. And if you come from extremely hot areas, growing of plenty of trees to make your surroundings cooler and fresher is a cherry on top. Not to forget fruit trees.
Until the next post, happy moments creating quality time with your parents or loved ones.
