A Day in the Life...
Fifteen minutes before my driver is due to arrive (and yes, still don't know- or won't learn to drive), I make my way to my vanity- it's a pretty awesome vanity with brushes and serums and makeup and perfumes and other knicks and knacks. This is a special ritual. It's always so enjoyable. Something exciting is happening; I've almost finished my Lancome foundation- it is going to be an empty bottle in a couple of days! Such triumph- such glory!
Making sure all the lights are off, I head downstairs with my rather huge and heavy purse along with another satchel full of papers and books. Then the car ride begins. The mornings are always slightly cool. I make a mental note of the things I need to jot down in my little to do book when I get there. For the life of me, I do not know why I don't do it just there. The ride is smooth and uneventful, but it is also the time I reserve for silent prayers for my kids. I haven't seem them in like forever, yet I ask God to give them a good day full of joy, laughter, good food, fun and frolic. Sometimes tears will up, sometimes, I'll just change my line of thought before it becomes overwhelming.
Then I enter the school gate. I reach 15 minutes earlier, so it's not too crowded at the gates. 2500 kids is a lot of kids. After checking in, I now make my way to the end of the campus where my building is. And the another joyous 5 minutes ensue as I walk by the garden patches rife with growing vegetable plants. There's an herb garden, there are radishes and carrots, scallops and beans, chillies and lady finger. The lady finger plants really surprise me, with the vegetable actually growing at the tip of the plant with its tail up. And the air is so fresh along that path. I deliberately slow down- take my sweet time. But then reality hits when the gate of my building looms.
So I make my way up the steps, by now looking forward to meeting 'my people'. The type of people (albeit a few) who will have your back, with whom you can lay back and relax and have a good time with. But the real fun begins when I have to teach the teenaged girls that are my English Language and Literature students. It's then, I lose myself. I am alive, full of passion, zest and zeal. The time flies away in the blink of an eye. I don't understand it. And the students know it too.
The day goes by, often without me getting a chance to even have a cup of tea, but that is alright, I enjoy my work even with all the struggles that come. After what I've been through, it's a stroll in the park. Adversity will do that for you- it also makes you the person you are.
It's time to go home. It's hot. Scorching hot. I flick out my sunglasses and as I head out, I don't slow down along the path I took in the morning. No. I just want to get out of the heat and go home. Or maybe I'll stop along the way and treat myself to something nice- you know- because I've worked so hard and I deserve it- or may be not. My mother will be waiting.
So I reach home and mom is there at the gate and even before I'm in the house, she tells me to wash up and come downstairs for lunch and will go on to tell me what she has made with great pride. She'll do it everyday without fail. So I do exactly that. It feels good to strip off the makeup and splash the water onto my face. I bring my lunch upstairs and then while I'm eating, I'm also talking to my sis, who by the way, is forever making me laugh. She's quite something. We hang up. I go on eating, and then finally, I make a cup of tea. Scrolling through my mails and notifications, I lean back into my comfy pillow, and then I'm in a place between sleep and consciousness. It's an amazing place, and therein I stay for a good half hour.
It's not long before the doorbell rings and the kids file in. I tutor them. I do my thing, the thing I do best for another couple of hours. They leave and all is silent. I am left to my musings and to the work I almost always have to do. Another couple of hours and dinner with the family, and another hour and I'm out like a light.
It's no adventure, no mystery novel. But it is a peaceful and fulfilling life. I have fought hard for this peace. There will always be something of grief in it. Otherwise man would become a monster. Grief and loss humble us. They keep us in check and suck out the hubris that creeps in stealthily. So I repeat the day the next day and the day after that, all the while enjoying my family, my rituals, my work. I see more in my future. One shouldn't stop learning, shouldn't stop hoping and praying. It's going only going to get better.
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