Life as my little girl sees it.
“We only live once”, this was what my little girl said as I turned to the road leading to her school. I concentrated on the road ahead in time to recover from the shock of her utterance. As I dropped her off at school that day and kissed her goodbye, I thought of what she said before rushing off to begin my daily monotonous routines.
I have heard this short phrase many times, I sometimes used it when talking to people, but, I never pondered on it until my 11 years old explained its meaning.
Sometimes, I express myself openly and some other times, I crawl backwards. I, however, found myself sinking into myself and shunning the world around me as my commitments and responsibilities expand. With the vigorous effects of life’s ups and downs, I have locked myself in unending spiralling vicious circles.
I was the nice quiet girl in the classroom, I was the nice lady in the office who never argue with anyone, I was that person whose voice couldn’t be heard. The nice one whose rights could be tramp upon. The nice one to whom all the chores could be passed on to. Someone nice enough not to utter a word, despite the inconveniences.
There was an epidemic of chicken pox when I was about 10. Everyone in my community was infected. I had it bad during that summer holiday and by the beginning of a new school year, I was covered in scars. It was easy to see the damage the chicken pox did to my skin. Everyone could see and I attracted a lot of unnecessary attention.