Tag: daily prompt

Ageing Gracefully

At least that is what I tell myself😜. Today’s prompt requires that I write about my favourite part of myself. Well. Since I have done quite a bit of soul searching over the course of this month, I think I will stick to the physical today. In which case, my favourite part of myself right now is my grey hair!

Embracing my greys

I made a choice to embrace my greys about 2 months ago and I am so glad I did. It felt like a weight was taken off my shoulders. God decided that I would start sprouting greys in my twenties. I was having none of that. If He had blessed me with a ‘distinguished’ grey patch in the front like my mum had I might have considered it but noooo…He decided that mine would sprout up at random. So I made box colour my friend instead. (I don’t have the patience to sit in a salon every month and have my hair done). Such has been my life for the past 20 years.

In November my cousin became a gran for the 1st time. She is 4 months older than me. While my son is only 13, and will in all likelihood not make a gran for at least another 10 years (fingers crossed), it was a milestone that made me take a look in the mirror and ask myself who I was kidding. I am getting older (never old though, just older. There is a difference. 🤣) and I need to embrace it. With people dying at younger and younger ages thanks to covid, I decided it was a blessing to be the age I am and it’s time to embrace it. For me, the symbol of my ageing is my grey hair so I embraced it.

I don’t know about you but I find that once I make a decision to accept something, especially something that I have been dreading, I find that I actually like whatever it is. Does that happen to you too? It happened when I became a non-smoker. It happened when I began intermittent fasting and now when I chose to accept my hair. I no longer look at myself in the mirror in horror. Now I give myself a big broad grin every morning and blow myself a kiss because, gosh darn it, I deserve it. 🌷

I am because We are

Today’s prompt is: “Write about something that makes you feel strong”. I looked up the word in the dictionary and was amazed at all the things that strong could mean. When I hear the word, I either think of physical strength or strength of character. Since I definitely am not the strongest person physically, I’ll talk about the other definitin that comes to mind.

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People call me strong and have done so for most of my adult life simply because I have always been single and appeared to do everything for myself. Becoming a single parent and raising what I would like to call, a well-adjusted son, just amplified this idea in everyone’s mind. The truth is that I am not really that strong. I do however have a support system of friends, colleagues and family that gives me the space to do what I need to do to take care of my son and myself. My network is small but it is big enough for me. My network though is not the main reason why I appear strong.

The main reason is because I have faith in a God who always has my back. This means that I can lean on Him all the time. I will not fall. He will not fail me or my son. I am by no means a church-going somebody. I do however believe in God because I see the evidence of all the good things He has done in my life. I often point out the evidence of it to my son whenever I become aware of an example. It blows both out minds to see God in action. On of the more recent examples is that of the kittens that came into our lives. He wanted a pet so badly that God sent them to our door. He was so dissappointed when neither of the kittens seemed to want his attention initially and now George is about the clingest cat I have ever come across 😂. I was just saying to him today that he clearly has a special line to God because God is always answering his prayers.

So in a nutshell, “I am because we are”. My network of family and friends together with my God, make me look strong. Without them, I would have nothing and be nothing. I am grateful for the wonderful network that God has blessed me with.

A 20 year old bitter sweet dream that came true

There is only one dream that really stands out in my mind. Strangely enough I had been thinking of it lately and then today’s prompt popped up about a dream I remember. I found most of this dream distressing yet I was at peace by the time I woke. The peace that I felt at the end is a feeling that I go back to time and time again when I need to feel safe. An even crazier thought is that the dream was almost prophetic.

The Dream

I don’t remember all the details of this dream as I had it about 20 years. The parts I do remember is that my sisters and I were chilling on the verandah (porch) of my mum’s house. My older sister’s 2 children were with us. There were about 2 and 8 years old at the time. Suddenly dark clouds started gathering rapidly and a vicious storm broke. For whatever reason, my niece and nephew ran off and my older and younger sister ran after them. I stayed with my baby sister who was barely a teen at the time. We were both terrified for them. My parents were not home. My two sisters and my niece and nephew disapppeared from our sight. We had no idea what to do. The rain lashed at the house. Lightening flashed. Thunder crashed. It looked and sounded like God was very angry at the world that day. There was nothing we could do so I turned to take my baby sister inside. Suddenly I noticed the door to a room on the side of our house that I never knew was there. I couldn’t understand it. I tried the handle. The door opened.

Photo by Tanya Gorelova on Pexels.com

To my surprise, there stood my late Granny Molly. My dad’s mum. She stood next to a single bed and was folding clothes. (One of my fondest memories of her from when I was a kid was when she spent some time at our home and she would make us fold the laundry while she told us stories of her childhood so I guess that is why she was folding laundry in my dream.) She looked absolutely serene and beautiful. She did not say a word. She just smiled at me and it was at the moment that I knew that everything would be ok. I felt such a sense of peace come over me. I can’t explain it. I immediately woke up still feeling that sense of peace and knew that no matter what, my gran was watching over us all and all will be well in the end.

The strangest thing is that, and it only struck me this past week, those two sisters and the kids have gone their separate ways since my mum has passed. My mum’s death was pretty sudden, much like the storm. My baby sister and I did not see the split coming and initially were competely thrown. We have since made peace with it and have moved on with our lives as we don’t have any choice. It what it is and, ultimately, all will be well. When I feel disturbed by it or anything actually, I go back to the memory of seeing my gran and the sense of peace she gave me. She watches over them as she watches over my baby sister and I. And now we have my mum watching over us and walking with us as well.

It was a crazy dream then but the emotions it stirred in me, ensured that it will always stay with me. The fact that life has played out in much the same way that the dream did actually blows my mind. I truly do believe that my gran still watches over me and has actually surprised me around her birthday for the past 3 years. Perhaps she has done it more often than that and I have only become aware of it because of the gratitude challenge that I do every December. Get this…about 2 years ago, on the the 12th of the 12th, at around 12pm I stepped up to the till at a store with a pair of jeans for my son. The size was for age 12. There was no price tag on the jeans and the lady and her manager could not find it on the system so they gave it to me for free! My gran’s birthday is the 12/12.😊 How cool is that!!!! I chose to believe it was her doing something special for my son and I on her birthday.

Thank you for reading my story.