TIME

Jeezanages…….

It sure has been a while hasn’t it? Ah too shame but you know what they say, Sometimes life gets in the way of having fun…..

Now I think Time is the most powerful force on the planet. I doh even know if Time is a force but it’s clearly pretty important and damn near priceless because we are all using it, some wasting it, racing against it, begging for more of it, wishing we could go back in it, wondering where it went and trying to spend the remainder of it the best we could.

I am in a persistent race with time simply because I value it so much so I don’t like to waste it at all. I am hustling every single day and at the end of each day I still beat up about what I should have done or what I could have slipped in. Then I plan for the next day and the cycle continues. Some people (read: my husband) get annoyed by this but it is simply the way I am wired. I hate leaving home late, I am always strategizing the distance and time to and from places, trips to run errands, workouts at the gym. Imagine I haven’t gone to the new Chaguaramas boardwalk yet because I seriously dread the outcoming traffic and I won’t even be the one driving! One of my closest friends suggested “Parang on the Boardwalk!” And as much as I’m a Christmas baby and I love anything Christmas-related and not to mention FREE!, my response was “Do you have a boat?”

Now October is the month of the year where I always think about Time, it’s my reflection month. My two gremlinz go up a year, Mamzelle on Thursday, Son-son exactly one week after and this year he is entering double digits!!! The big 1-0! (Cue ensuing staring into space trying to recall all memorable moments and frantic watching of baby pictures from now until next week…..) These days I casually observe them even more, I look at how he’s almost my height and she’s getting thick in the legs like me. I listen to them as they watch TV and enter into this university-level discussion about why pirates are fake, or why Flow trying to teach people Spanish in smart. I watch her storming his room and sleeping on his bed every…..single…..night and as frustrated as I am about this, (dis chile doh like to sleep a full night on her own bed at allll!!!) clearly neither of them seem to mind. In time to come that will change so maybe I should just cool it.

I try to remember what my freedom was like before I had the gremz and sometimes come up short. I know I went out and partied a lot but I can’t recall what I used to do in my spare alone time. I tend to study what the future would be like once they grow up and buss out God spare life. These days I’m starting to envision them in secondary school and wondering what their career specialties will be, my version of putting it out there in the universe I guess. I remember once I was in a deep reverie about them having their own children and their own lives and then I would be old and then die and they would have to put flowers on my grave in Lapeyrouse and I wouldn’t be around to watch them anymore and to tell them that I only want lilies and not dem cosquelle chrysanthemums that always appear on coffins in these wide-ass bouquets which I hate. I won’t lie, I shed actual tears during this stream of consciousness that happened only in my mind with my obsession about time. It didn’t help that I also had PMS.

Although October makes me stop and think, there’s no sense in me telling myself that I will slow down to smell the roses, this only happens when I’m on vacation. I keeps it real but neither will I ‘sleep when ah dead’ either. Life is about maintaining balance I suppose and I am certain I’m not the only one who feels the same. In the meantime I’m living and the clock is ticking.

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Bless up

TMIDM

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JABLUM

It’s Friday! Time to imbibe!

I’m certain if someone did some qualitative research on drinking on particular days of the week, Friday would be up for honourable mention. A Friday destress would enlist one of the three J’s for me (Jose’ Cuervo, Johnnie Walker <Double Black> or Jack Daniels) or perhaps all three in a notable drink that my husband loves called ‘The Three Wise Men’. However, on this Friday I am home, just finished cleaning, enjoying the rest of my vacay with the gremlinz so I’m heralding the fourth J, JABLUM.

Some time ago I visited Jamaica for a dear friend’s wedding, one of the best mini-vacations thus far. On the way back to Trinidad while waiting to depart I was reminiscing on the crazy fun few days I had and it hit me that the entire Norman Manley International smelled like coffee! Anyone who has departed this Jamaican airport can attest to this, there is a coffee place everywhere! So now anytime I smell coffee, my brain takes me back to my crazy fun Jamaican holiday. I think it’s an associative thing.

On her visit back to Trinidad my friend was mandated to return with Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee (JABLUM) which is one of the many blends that waft through the airport space. So now with my precious French Press I have my own tools to brew my own potion.

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This is only when the I’m-oh-so-relaxed-me-time mood hits whether it be mornings, after lunch, afternoon tea, evenings, but definitely not every day.  This Friday deserves it though.

Bless up

TMIDM

And Counting…..(part 1)

This evening I came home, sat in my gallery, listened to the birds and stared at my dog Castro (a truly gentle soul befitting of the name).

I was trying to release the day but somehow my brain thinks that “releasing the day” means “fervently studying the plans for the next day”. So in the middle of trying to create a reverie, I started wondering what to mix and match to wear to work, how to vary one lucky student’s torture of a lunchtime detention and how to get those Form 3s to realize they actually have National Exam in a few weeks. Today really felt like a Wednesday, haunted and humpy, just in the middle and neither forward nor backward until I realized that today is the Wednesday in between Week 5 and Week 6 of an 11-week term. In other words: Dear Teacher, almost half down, half to go.

I should have known this feeling was near since for the past few days the gremz have been eating packaged salted and sweetened snacks from Holiday Foods, Sunshine Snacks, Bermudez, Kiss and the like. I started off the term very well trying to vary with fruit and inventive stuff like Lunchbox Dad (who by the way makes me feel like a lesser mortal, far less mother).

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I’m not an artist but I took his cue and did well enough, but honestly I knew it wasn’t gong to last too long. I applaud him though jeez.

Lunch reflects a pattern as well consisting of bread and (insert filling here):

What you want for lunch? Bread and………?

I want cheesepaste!

Ughhh, so much work!!!

Jam?

Cool! You?

Fried egg and sausage?

Nah! Too much work. I’ll do it Saturday.

Nutella?

There ya go! Ting to cut and spread quick man!

As for me I’ve been eating random frozen foods like Jamaican patties that could fling quick in the microwave and be called George. Doh talk for the husby, hm!…poor fella probably wondering why since Mother’s Day this woman get so delinquent during the week.

Now before the judgy Janices and Jacintas jump on meh case, I will hasten to add that the gremlinz love sandwiches and I’m usually stocked with assorted things to put between two slices of bread. They also eat after-school snacks like jelly cups, rolls, croissants and pizzas and of course maintain their juice and water intake. That, I will take the time to do but I think mentally my brain is winding all the way down even though it’s only week 5. I’m wrapping up curriculum, seeing Form 5s in exams and hearing summer jams on the radio. Not to mention the distance to work REALLLL getting on my nerves now (more on that later). Therefore, with regards to lunch kit prep  I want it easy, quick and not too much at the expense of their health and my pocket. So one sandwich, an Orchard, Kiss Goodie and some chips in a sandwich bag is in order and will kill noone. Le sigh, I will jump back on the Super Mom train soon enough man, no worries! 😀

Bless up

TMIDM