Her Sides

I have a frame on my bedroom wall to remind me what lies beyond the tunnel—peace. Dark and lonely times in life can be quite scary. The uncertainty that comes with not knowing what the next day might bring can leave you drained at night. In all my years of living, I have seen people work hard to put their past behind them and move into a new life, but somehow, traces of the past still filter into their new beginning. I have watched people’s attempts at survival in the face of incredible defeat and overwhelming failure. Most times, these people emerge at the end of their tunnel broken and completely hopeless.  Failure, dark places, and shattered dreams are things most people are familiar with and have to deal with in this life. However, despite whatever may not be going right, hope remains, and the end for godly people is peace.  I love to observe people and learn from them. I have seen men of wealth lose everything in an instance foll...

Where do you draw the line between following your passion and dealing with reality? My answer is simple: When the check bounces, figure out ways to make money now. We have all read the popular saying "Follow your heart" and have in one way or another charted the course of our lives with this as a driving force. But at what point is it okay to say, While I'm following my dream I need to keep a check on my reality? I meet people every day who are young, passionate, full of hopes and dreams, ready to take on the world, striving to make their creative ideas see that light of day. As a creative person who has been there, done that, I never discourage such people, but I always want to remind them to have a solid plan to pay their bills on the way to accomplishing their dreams. My parents encouraged every child they had to pursue a dream. They were happy to support whatever we chose to do as long as we kept our grades up. All through my primary school days I spent most...

Has anyone ever heard this song, "Three special steps"? The theme song from Special agent Oso the cartoon? Well my little boy sang three special steps and it changed my thought about healthy living and losing weight. I used to love exercising when I was sixteen. I remember waking up and going for a run around the neighborhood. I always ended up doing a couple of crunches and stomach exercises. I was so fit and honestly didn't need to exercise that much. My Mom usually laughed at me and advised I spent that time eating instead of burning away the little fat I had. Fast forward many years in time; Post-pregnancy fat settled all around my body and I now had zero tolerance for exercising. Didn't particularly like the belly rolls that came with having a baby, but the new bum looked great! So I didn't mind. Then one evening I was going for a party with my husband and I decided to wear an old outfit. The...

Every woman is familiar with the act of juggling. You are juggling your time, energy and money between roles and responsibilities of being a wife, mom, worker, sister, aunty, lover, friend, and just being you. We wake up each morning and immediately start functioning in one of these roles. First, however, you must find time every day to let out the steam and breathe in all this hustle.     Let's look at the typical day of a Mom with two kids living in the city, working 8 to 5. The alarm rings at 5:30 in the morning she doesn't have time to sleep. Her mind is alert as she gets up to start her day. She gives her husband a nudge to wake up; he turns on his side and continues his sleep. She walks into her kid's room and begins to wake them up in a firm but gentle manner. One by one, each child's eyes open and focuses on her. She takes them into the bathroom and prepares them for school. Then she dashes down to the kitchen to make their breakfast. It is 6 am now, and sh...

Dead end relationship going no where, shouldn't you just end it? He's been giving you all the signs but you choose to ignore it and for what? Just so you can tell your friends you also have a boyfriend?  Girl, we need to talk. Johnny-two-shoes shows up everyday after work, waiting in the parking lot of your office to drive you home. On the way home he stops to buy you dinner, sometimes you watch a movie and top it off with ice cream. Weekends are not any different. Saturday mornings he is at your door, offering to drop you off at the Salon and pick you up afterwards. He has been doing all these lovey-dovey stuffs to please you because he calls you his princess. Then one day Miss-eight-and-all shows up at his office. She's been recruited as the new intern. He tells you about her on the way home and you notice the excitement in his voice as he describes her work and how much of a help she is to everyone at the office. He remembers she has a bag that looked like one...

         For better or for worse         In sickness or in health          Till death do us part. You said those words, and you meant to keep it. Until the last line came true, death came and pulled you apart. How on earth do you deal with that? Many times people marry the one they love, the one they hope to spend the rest of their lives with. They go through the process of bonding, of discovering one another. They learn how to fight fair and to support each other in times of crisis. They grow in love and build each other up in the hope that when the evening comes and their bodies begin to age, they will still have each other to depend on, they would have their love to live for.  Then one tragic evening the lights go out on that dream. On a raining evening not too different from so many they have lived through, this loving couple driving home from work skid off the road and end in the ditch. T...

My little boy is transitioning into the stage where every word you say matters because he just repeats it. I didn’t realize how crucial this stage was until he started attempting to say words that didn’t quite go down well with me. I was upset because I figured since these words were not spoken at home he had to have picked it up from school. “What are these Teachers saying to these kids?” I wondered out loud.  “What kind of learning environment do they foster these days?” I questioned no one in particular.  I decided this wasn’t just a conversation to have in the hallway as I dropped off my son the next day, this had to be documented even escalated so the Principal was aware in order to correct it. I decided to write a letter to the Teacher to express my disapproval. Dear Teacher, Thank you for taking out the time to teach my son how to identify shapes and point them out in his everyday life. Last night he pointed to the hazard blinker on the dashboard of th...