A Bit of a Rant

"A lot of mom's out there are so busy complaining that they don't take the time to see what a beautiful miracle and blessing it is to be a mom..."

A few weeks ago I received an unexpected, but rather nice, message from an old varsity friend complimenting my enthusiasm and involvement in the raising of my son. She works with kids in the psychology field and, to put it mildly, I was quite flattered but, at the same time, saddened. And more than a little angered. Not by the message, but by the truth in the above statement. The above is from that same message, and it has stayed with me these past weeks. I wish I could say that I disagree with the sentiment, but in my own experience I have come across many a mother who, simply put, does not know how to embrace the joy of mommyhood. I once knew a girl who admitted to me that she was trying to concoct a way she could kill her child without anyone knowing because she didn't like the life she was forced to live after the birth. This is, of course, an extreme case, but it does highlight, in a very real way, a very real problem that society is facing - the plague of the disinterested and disconnected parent.

Spuh-RING!

And yet again I am late with my post!  Alas, this time it was no fault of mine! For some reason unknown to men and gods alike, Blogger decided that Wednesday was not a good day for me to access my account and temporarily limited me to simply viewing a blank screen with a poorly worded error message.  All seems to be back in working order now though, so I guess the little feedback button in the lower right corner of my screen is good for something after all...  And then yesterday was WEDDING TIME, rendering me incapable and entirely unwilling to sit at my laptop and compose what you now read.  Rod's cuzzie Vida married her long-time beau Nic in a pretty outdoor ceremony at The Moon and Sixpence in Muldersdrift.  If you're keen to see a few snaps of the proceedings taken by yours truly, I've posted a few on my other blog {Jade & Jasmine}, so head on over and have a squiz, and perhaps click on the "Follow" button while you're there ;)

And, of course, the fact that wedding season is upon us here in South Africa means only one thing - spring is here!!  If there's one time of year that I love, it's spring. With my bloodlines hailing from Scotland, Ireland, England, Germany and Sweden, I feel I am fully qualified to state that I am too European for our sunny South African climate!  But spring is just perfect.  The gentle warmth of the evenings, the scent of the jasmine blooming beside our front door, everything fresh and green and GLORIOUS!  And the colours! I am in awe of nature's ability to surprise me anew each year with its simple beauty. There is a sense of promise in the air that nothing can imitate.

Some of the flowers blooming in our garden

Doctors & Date Night

Yes, yes, this post is precisely two days late, by Shire reckoning, but with good reason!  On Wednesday Aunty Ter came to visit little man and I, and by Wednesday night I was so spent I just fell into bed without even considering the state of my kitchen, let alone the absence of a blog post!  It's always great when Ter comes to visit - a little bit of adult conversation during daylight hours is good for the soul, not to mention that it's one of about three opportunities I have to find out what's going on in the outside world without having to log on to Facebook or Whatsapp! We found we had a great deal to chat about, and Ricky even chimed in with a few well-placed burbles and "nnn-DAHs".

Monkey monkey with his Aunty Ter