Quality time

Some things went very well, today. I am grateful to have a gem of a colleague, who swopped a class with me today, to help me out. I'm also relieved that a sticky matter I've been dealing with has just about been resolved. I'll exhale in a few weeks' time. 

I'm happy to have a warm, welcoming house to come home to. Even though there are so many things that need fixing, the most important things are in place. My home is my haven, and I always feel happy to return to it.  Wherever life may take me, I always want my home to feel this way. 

I've raised my children to understand that the things that money can buy can always be bought - when you have the money - but the really important things, like love, patience, and just being there for each other, listening with real interest, and laughing together, are things that no amount of money could ever buy. I'd say those are the most important things in life. You could live in the most beautiful house, with all the fancy furniture and appliances, but that wouldn't guarantee happiness. 

I live in a house with so many broken things, I don't even know where to start fixing or replacing. But we live in peace. We talk, not shout. We listen, not talk over each other's voices. We understand that solo time is important, and we give each other plenty of space to pursue our individual interests. We make time to do things together, but we have a healthy regard for each other's privacy.  

I've always believed that quality time with my children was whenever we were together. In the end, that philosophy got us through many tough years, when we were forced to live together on a part-time basis only. But my kids understood that it was okay to sit in the kitchen and tell me about their day, while I was cooking. We didn't need to contrive quality time. And that's basically my approach to most relationships. Just be real.   

I'm happy to have music in my life. And even though I don't get to perform with the person I most want to, I'm enjoying having a solo restaurant gig - it balances out my life in such a beautiful way. 

Universe - I know you're listening to me. I can feel it. All the signs are there that I'm on the brink of something wonderful. I'll keep sending you messages from my heart every day. 

On my mind

Challenging myself to type a blog post that gives me an opportunity to offload, in thirty minutes.  Alarm’s set, so here goes.

I’ve been thinking about a few things, all day. One of them was all the things I’m grateful for. I’ve had three periods in my life when I was unemployed, even though one of them was by choice. The other two occasions tested me in many ways. I am grateful to be employed, with a set salary that helps me maintain my family. The flipside to my gratitude is sadness. I am saddened by how widespread poverty is, in our country, and how devastating its effects are. I see it every day - it knocks on my door, begging for food, clothes, money, broken appliances, tin cans – anything. And even though I chose to write that sentence that way, I am painfully aware that poverty is a despicable by-product of our skewed society, and that it’s real people who come to my door – individuals who have been dragged down lower than I’m sure they imagined possible.

A second thing on my mind, all day, was the phrase, “There are no problems - only opportunities.”  I think I read it in Benjamin Zander’s book, “The Art of Possibility”, which he co-authored with his wife, Rosamund Stone Zander. If this is really true, I’ve had some amazing possibilities come my way, recently. Haha! You know that feeling of being kicked while you’re down? That! But life goes on, and I refuse to quit. I’m much stronger than most people realise. Much.

But lastly – I’ve been thinking about friendship, all day……especially friendships that endure, that defy geography and time. I think about my friends who live abroad now, in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and the UK. I also have good friends who live in the UAE. And then I have friends who live in other parts of my own country, especially in Gauteng. I have a special friend in Oz, whom I met when we were both six years old. I have another beautiful friend, in Gauteng, whom I met when I was 17 and she was 15.  These people are part of my life story – they knew me long before I became the Trudy my new friends know me as. J Long before I 'grew up" and became a teacher and a musician.

I recently went to a mini class reunion, with nine other people from my very special high school class that stayed together for five years. We’re all basically the same age, most are married, most of us are parents, and some are even grandparents. I enjoy hanging out with them. Yes, we do reminisce a lot, but we also spend time chatting about other things. I feel like I can be exactly who I am, with them, and it’s  a good feeling.

I’m about to hit 50 minutes of writing (incl. editing), so I think I’ll stop now. :-)