A Month of Gratitude 2024: Day 11

Hello there! I have to admit that today I am tired. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, though, and thankfully, it is clearly not a train. Two more sleeps until Friday!!

Two Things I am Grateful For

  1. Around this time last I was so excited because I had been invited to lead a squad in the business. It was quite an honour and I was so nervous. Today I heard that my squad would be dissolved. I am really nothing unhappy about it. I am grateful. I am grateful for the opportunity to lead an amazing team and to learn from them. I am also grateful for the opportunity away. Leading two teams was no joke. It took it’s toll on me. I take my hat off to Senior managers and directors who have to lead more than one team. It is an interesting challenge.
  2. My son received his school report today. It was not a pretty sight, and I was disappointed to see his marks. However, he did pass, and for that, I am grateful. Two more years of high school to go, and then I will be the mother of a university student!
Image generated by AI

One Source of Joy

I took my friend’s son off her hands for a short while at work today. School is out, and she didn’t have an au pair for him today, so she had to bring him to work. He is pretty shy, but he knows me, so we took a walk to the Zen Garden to watch the Koi swim and have a look around. Unfortunately, the monkeys were out in the garden, so we left sooner than I had hoped we would need to. They scare us. I had forgotten how much energy a four-year-old had. It was challenging keeping up with him…lol. It was great to spend time with him and to pay forward helping a fellow mum out in the office. I had so many people help me when my son was little, and I was forced to bring him into the office.

Thanks for popping by. I hope you enjoyed the read. Let me know what you are grateful for today in the comments.

Bye for now.

“Every champion was once a contender that refused to give up.”

-Rocky Balboa

Bloganuary writing prompt
What are your favorite sports to watch and play?

Hello again. Being the mother of a teenage son, it’s impossible to get out of watching a sport. In my case, it’s soccer. My son has always loved soccer. I used to kick the ball around with him in the evenings when he was still a preschooler. We both used to love it. We would take turns playing goalkeeper, and it killed him that we were playing on tar because he couldn’t dive for the ball. We have a foam sleeper couch in the lounge, so he used to pull that out and practice his dives on there. Naturally, his first position on a soccer team at age 7 was as a goalkeeper. He now plays defensive or midfield positions.

Next was wrestling. WWE, to be exact. I didn’t mind, as I used to love watching wrestling with my dad as a kid. I also watched boxing with my dad back then. We would be up at 3 am or so to watch a Sugar Ray Leonard or Marvelous Marvin Hagler fight in Vegas. I loved spending that time with my dad. My son and his friend used to practice their wrestling moves on that sleeper coach. Thank goodness it was just foam. It really went through the works…lol.

Next up was F1. My son discovered Drive to Survive on Netflix, and the next thing you know, we were both hooked. That was about 3 or 4 years ago. Today, we are avid Mercedes fans. I am praying that the team pulls out an amazing car this year that enables Hamilton’s 8th (or shall we say 9th because he won “that” Abu Dhabi race…). I enjoy following the various strategies and my mind is blown at the level of precision required and all of the elements that need to be managed to win a race. This year my would like to attend a race. We will have to see what the bank account says. 😅. He is already being spoilt by his grandfather and will be watching a Liverpool match at Anfield with him, so maybe we should hold off on an F1 race for another year or two.

My favourite sports to watch are athletics, swimming and tennis. I guess it is because they are individual sports, and I am in awe of the grace with which these athletes perform. These sports also have easy rules to understand. I mean, I still don’t understand the offside rule in soccer😂. Tennis was one of my mother’s favourite sports to watch, and I always watched it with her. She loved Wimbledon. She also loved watching the Comrades. Every year, without fail, she watched the race from the start until the men’s and ladies’ winners came in. Then she would check who made the silver cut-off and then watch the last half hour of the race. She would scream for those people who were limping to the finish and may not make the cut-off. That half hour is the most amazing period in the race because everyone is behind those runners who are trying to beat the gun. It doesn’t matter if you are cheering from home or the stadium; what mattered was that you were “willing” those runners to the finish line with your energy. I cannot describe the feeling.

I have done long-distance running, played netball, and swam at school, but all before puberty hit. Thereafter I lost interest in sport. I did enjoy it at the time, though.

What sports do you watch or play and why?

Thanks for popping by! Be Blessed.

Letters to my son: #1 You are enough

I read somewhere recently that as parents, we are mere shepherds whose role it is to guide our children while they are in our care. I hope these letters will help him navigate life and help him find the path that God intended for him to walk.

mother and son in shadow on the sand
Just the two of us


Dear Alex,
Throughout life, you will meet people and find yourself in situations that will make you question your worth and abilities, and sometimes, you will even question your sanity. Sadly, a lot of the time, they will be people that you love and thought you could respect.
They will pick on your appearance, on what you say, and on what you do. They will also try to use your beautiful golden brown skin against you. They will try to belittle you in every possible way.
Don’t let them. Stand tall in the knowledge that you are enough just as you are. Everything about you is unique and is to be celebrated. Don’t ever be ashamed of who you are. Don’t let this make you arrogant, though. Remain humble and grounded. You will accomplish so much more by doing this.
Marianne Williamson says in her book “A Year of Miracles”: “The perfect you isn’t something you need to create because God already created it.” Please always remember this. You are enough as you are.
This is one of my favourite passages from Marianne Williamson’s book, A Return to Love. Let it help you when your confidence is low.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
― Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”

All my love and then some more,

Mum ❤️