Chosen Treasures…

October 25, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha29 Comments

The term prized possessions sounds like I simply purchased them from a supermarket, which actually places a finite value on these treasures of mine.

We do not own our family/children but we are mere custodians of these young souls who decorate our lives and our families are gifts bestowed upon us.

The elixir obtained from experience shared, the roads traveled and joy from loved ones can neither be bottled nor sold.

My family are my pride and joy.

They are my treasures of inestimable value and for these beautiful ones, I am exceedingly thankful.

Every other material possession is disposable and replaceable. It’s simply there to satisfy a specific need.

Below is a short related prose that I wrote earlier in the year.

Life on a short lease….

Posted on May 25, 2015

In deed, nothing I have is truly mine,

I am simply a beneficiary,

Of the benevolence of a Supreme Being: God,

I am only a conscious receptor of goodwill and grace,

I am simply a custodian of blessings bestowed upon me,

A mere guardian of gifts innumerable.

Not to be taken for granted.

However we look at it.

I know this.

I am just a sojourner, a wayfarer.

Nothing I have is truly mine.

In response to The Daily Prompt Pride and Joy.

What’s your most prized possession?

Devotions · Family · Hope · Inspiration - Motivation · Life · Love · Weave that Dream

Through the Eyes of a Tiny Tot…a refreshing encounter

October 21, 2015October 21, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha29 Comments

This post is inspired by my yesterdays observation as a social voyeur and I came away with a good number of lessons even though the young baby had no idea that his display was teaching me some of life’s simple lessons.

The weather in Dubai had cooled sufficiently that you could go down to the pool and relax without turning into burnt offering, so when the kids came back from school and raced through their homework, I agreed to take them to the poolside.

They swam whilst I lounged with my fave read of the moment ‘My Vision – Challenges in the race of Excellence‘ The book of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Ruler of Dubai and Vice-President of the United Arab Emirates.

I was quite engrossed in the glossy pictures of the Sheikh and his Falcon when an insistent shrilling cry of a child roused my attention.

I watched this tiny young fella; just about a year old by my estimate, wrestle and put up a squiggly fight with his parents as they tried to squeeze him into a floater.

He wailed. He tried to tuck his legs under his butt. He squirmed and wriggled and did his very best to escape the inevitable, but alas, he lost the battle.

His Mama managed to persuade his cute plump legs with those gorgeous baby folds into the float openings – I have something about babies. I adore them 🙂 and if nature had not decided I would have had a family of 7 children!

Well, back to our story. When mama had the young fella secured in, into the water he went with his father.

A baby bellow, squawk and shriek all followed his affront from being put in the pool! I gathered that it was his first experience.

By this time my entire attention had diverted from my read to watch the child and I unfortunately missed capturing on camera the initial bloody battle moments and his attempted maneuvers.

His dad held him and they made their way from one end of the pool to the other a couple of times and in no time at all the young chap was chortling happily and was all smiles. I was smiling too! 🙂

This went on for a little bit and before you could say ‘hey presto’ he got right into the groove of things.

After a worthwhile half an hour paddle and it appeared he was getting cold, his dad decided to get him out of the water and another loud protest ensued.

To my amazement the little fella did not want to come out! Here was a young thing screaming like the sky was about to fall a few minutes ago before he was persuaded albeit reluctantly to get into the water, now doing an about face and exhibiting his reluctance to come out!

They bundled him into a towel eventually and:

An ordinary, mundane experience left me with a good number of reflections:

How we always tend to draw a conclusion about an experience without even trying it out first.

How a new start of everything is filled with nervous trepidation and yet when we do apply ourselves, we conquer.

How fear and not faith always seems to be the first primal reaction to change in the human life.

His dad’s steering hand figuratively resembled the hands of God to me. When God wants to steer us in the right direction knowing that he is taking us to a good place but we stubbornly assert our independence until he lets go and allows us our free will.

How little encouragement and motivation (though forced in this case) can help us get on higher grounds. Growing pains in anything may be difficult but they are always surmountable.

How we are always reluctant to stop doing something (good or bad) when we have started it.

That we should be floats for others as many as we can encourage and motivate.

In this little application, not only did he conquer, but his joy resembles self-actualization.

So there it is, I bet the young fella will not forget the good experience from his first dunking and would be happier next time around.

If you gleaned anymore hidden message in this little story. Please do share.

Thanks and kind regards.

Creative Writing · Humor - Bellyful of laughter · Musings

Indeed love can grow; for my car at least..

June 24, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha5 Comments

Bonding is really a question of giving time to someone or something and allowing their finer qualities to get to you.

Even a disagreeable person has someone who finds him/her agreeable after a while of spending time together.

Like we say back home: Monkey no fine, but him mama like am (no matter how ugly the monkey is, his mother is quite enthused with him).

In my case, the love and bonding is between my car and I.

It’s not that my SUV is ugly. No! Far from it. But as the name depicts, it is still a Sport Utility Van. Made to accommodate my brood and I, plus the excessive grocery bags.

In my head, I am a classy diva and when my husband wanted to get me a new car, I wanted a snazzy red corvette to paint the town in lovely colors. I could see myself cruising down Beltway 8 or i10 with my sun roof down and a scarf carelessly slung round my neck and my kinky hair (not flowing like the locks of a Caucasian damsel) bouncing, maybe just a little. I would wear an over-sized pair of dark sunglasses and a whole lot of attitude. I went to sleep for several nights with a happy smile on my face 🙂

I craftily dropped hints all over the place for my Corvette desire to dear husband of mine, but he looked at me with that expression of ” where did you fall and hit your head?” promptly explaining to me, that as a matronly mama, I should have an accommodating car, so that the children can have enough room and to leave the snazzy bits for retirement or when they have all gone off to College/University. Reluctantly throwing my sunroof cruising thoughts out of the window, I grudgingly acquiesced.

We went ahead and purchased my sedate looking (white for that matter) SUV, and our romance began. Every morning, I would start her (her name is Gloria) and she will respond with a perfect hum. Gloria, has been very faithful and loving these past months. No day did she nag or grumble. No day did she fail to work as expected. She was good in all weather, rain or shine. As I am about to trade Gloria in, I am jolted with the realization, that indeed, I have come to love my dependable SUV, white color and all and that I would miss her. I could not paint the town the colors that I wanted, but she did get me around as often as I needed.

Not that I have forgotten my snazzy Corvette, there’s still a whole lot of time for that 😉

Hope · Inspiration - Motivation · Love · Musings

1 For The Teachers….

June 6, 2015 jacquelineobyikochaLeave a comment

Thank you may seem like such a simple word, yet it is a word that has the immense opportunity to carry a whole lot of meaning, appreciation, gratitude and it sometimes represents plain old-fashioned politeness.

From the very moment a person learns to talk, they are presumably taught how to say thank you. After a while it becomes an automated action, that we sometimes fail to know the value and then take a whole lot of things for granted without giving thanks.

School is out for summer holidays and as I watched my youngest hug his teacher goodbye, and told her how he would miss her, that little gesture spoke volumes to me.

At the start of school year, we had just moved to this vicinity/school district and I was a bit anxious as a parent as to how well my kids will adjust to their new schools and curricula, especially coming from British oriented school curricula to American curriculum. All through this school session, I had listened to their narrations about each school day while holding my breath.

At the onset, we floundered a little bit and agreeably some days were perplexing but we quickly caught on with the way the land lay on this side, and not one day did my children express a negative feedback or not feel like going to school. My worries about their adjustment and making friends soon turned to immense relief and gratitude.

After you as their parents, their teachers are poised to be the next most influential person in your child’s life and they are also responsible in imparting some of life’s most important lessons and social skills which are not detailed in the syllabus.

I have three children who are very active and there are days I wonder how a teacher manages to keep a bunch of fifteen to twenty-five children attentive for six to eight hours without pulling out all their hair in exasperation. I came to realize that the teachers must really enjoy teaching. They must enjoy having their students around them and imparting selflessly on these younger ones who look up to them for direction.

Most of the time, they go above and beyond their call of duty in the education of our children.

To the Amanda Spiegelman’s, Carolina Loria, Dawn Stevens, Haley Bassett, Gbemi Olowookere’s and the teachers of this World who give selflessly, saying thank you is hardly enough, yet this is one of the means to appreciate your kindness, support, patience and understanding.

In my place it is said that “we should keep our eyes open to our little mercies, because the man who forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life”, thus in my indigenous Ibo language, I will say, “Ji sie ike, dalu nu”. Well done and thank you all.

Some might wave it off and say you are just doing your jobs, but I firmly believe that you are doing so much more. You are helping to mold the future generation. Keep up the good work.