Sunday 15 March 2015

BEWARE THE IDES

Somehow it is already the middle of March, the day that did not bode well for a certain Roman Emperor. What would Caesar make of his day of doom transforming into Mothering Sunday? Into cards and flowers and cups of tea, lovingly made…

Didn't the year only just begin? Was I really in India only a couple of months ago? I feel as though I am lagging behind my own world, and that I shall catch up with myself at some later date, later year.

My mother is painting the bannister and the doors with fresh coats of white paint. Yesterday I walked with my father at an impressive clip, his long strides eating up the overgrown grass of our garden, my feet scuttling to keep time with his. Nothing on the cherry tree, I pronounced. And today, suddenly, he informs me it is in bloom. Snowdrops and daffodils are enjoying their brief coincidental meetings in clusters around the path that leads from my little den to theirs.

For four months I have had a strange occurrence with new eyedrops dilating my pupils. I have mini cataracts in both my eyes too. Cataracts! Sometimes I don't know whose body this is that I am inhabiting. Sometimes I wonder what other shapes my life could have taken had I not destined myself for the writing life. Would I feel less distraught every time my eyes stumbled? How unimaginative I am that I cannot be anything but this addicted wordsmith for life.

But that's just this life. Next life, I shall return as Keeper of Hedgehogs or An Ambassador for Pandas. A Pambassador.


1 comments:

Sherry Blue Sky said...

Oh I am so sorry about the cataracts. I have them too, but it is more usual, at my age and both my mom and grandma lost their sight at the end. I suppose I should be learning how to write using a voice command computer, to be prepared - but I really dont know any other way to write than at the keyboard. (Funnily, I used to have to write longhand but it just got too slow, so I adapted to a keyboard.) I see the eye surgeon in May - then we can commiserate together. I love that you might come back as a Panbassador. Keeper of the Hedgehogs would be good too. They are VERY cute!

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