One week to go! For the very first time in my life, I am filled with doubts about an endeavour I am about to undertake. And I am wondering why. Normally, I look forward, with barely restrained excitement, to departing for some land unknown, to explore and see places I have only read about or seen on TV. I love to travel - by air though, as I find it the fastest mode of transportation. Plus, I love the sound the engines make when the plane lifts off from the ground - that extra "oomph" at take off sets my blood buzzing and cracks my face into a wide grin. Yes, I have been given weird looks by my fellow passengers when this happens, but, what do I care? It's fun! So, why am I apprehensive? I am either getting old or my mental state is the problem. I hope to God that, whichever is the culprit, by the time next week comes around, I will be back to my old, "can't-wait-to-go-on-this-trip" self. Self-doubt is a fairly recent and new emotion and I find it disconcerting and annoying! I plan to get to at least get to Gilman's Point (the point at which you get a certificate for climbing the mountain) or, God willing & Yayyy, Uhuru peak (the highest point on Kilimanjaro where, certificate or no certificate, you will proudly post on Facebook, pictures taken of you looking crazy and spaced out from the lack of oxygen and the sub-zero temperatures!) Wish me luck!

Comments

Post a Comment

While you should feel free to comment, please do not use foul or offensive language. Yes it is a free world, but decorum is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Popular posts from this blog

Disappointments.

A friend and I were talking about "disappointment" and drew my attention to the excerpt below where the American First Lady said her husband had never disappointed her in terms of his core values. She's either being honest or she is, as loads of couples do, presenting a postcard picture of her husband. (An aside - did you know that "disappoint" in old English was used to mean "to remove from" as in "the newly appointed minister was disappointed  from his post." Hmm, if we could disappoint those who disappoint us...) And that got me to thinking about how many people can honestly say that about their spouses or their spouses can say that about them. This is not about the annoyances, irritations and "really?" moments in the normal, balanced and even loving marriages, but about being true to and retaining the basic tenets (positive o!) that one has. It is true that many people start their adult lives with idealisms and dreams, w...
Read more
 My last post was May 12, 2019. Wow. Wow. And again, Wow. I haven’t written anything in three years. Except you count my WhatsApp responses to other people’s posts I think must be answered - people tend to say the darndest things and expect you to just accept it.  Social media has become a platform for social reform and most often not for the better - fact and fiction, gems and drivel are merged to form a warped “truth” spewed out with conviction and not many bother to check what’s what. Intellectual slothfulness and an absence of social responsibility? What’s that got to do with me writing? Nothing, lol. Just meandering - I am writing as I think, which means I jump back and forth between topics like a jumping jelly bean! Back to why I haven’t been writing. It’s not writer’s block in that I was trying to write but couldn’t, but more like I did not want to. Let me explain - my writing was always a function of my emotional state, and that state has been, well, let’s just use the...
Read more

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Usually, on my birthday, I switch off my phone. Yes. No calls, no texts, no BBMs, Whatsapps or whatever instant messaging service that's in use. No emails. NOTHING. I am cut off from the world for the better part of a day. I do not go online either. Usually. For the past twelve odd years, that I have done. And on at least seven of my last birthdays, I have been "away" - mostly by design. It is not that I do not celebrate my birthdays - I do - but not in the conventional way. I don't do cakes - I remember my then two-year old daughter looking around the dining area and living room and asking "Mummy, where is your birthday?" and me telling her that it was "birthday cake" and that Mummy didn't do birthday cakes. She gave me a measured stare, the only way a two-year old can, and told me in a very stern voice "Mummy, when it's MY birthday, you MUST do cake, okay?" and marched back upstairs with what I swear was a shake of her head,...
Read more