As I write this, my head is aching badly and I'm a little down. I've been really busy this week and I think it's finally taking it's toll on me. I've been also thinking a lot lately about a lot of things, some of which i wouldn't normally share but I will eventually because I've come to know you all as a part of me.
Late last month, I got a call from my mom, she was being so concerned about my health and how I was doing. I told i her I was doing ok and with a sigh she went on to tell me that my uncle( my father's only brother) had died.
At that moment, I didn't really know what I felt, this was a man who hadn't really been part of my life for too long. Growing up I used to see him as my rich uncle who always bought me lots of gifts whenever he was around. He was always very positive, loved to eat lots of fruits and very particular about his health.
He always had this saying "eat well because if someone dies, his mouth also dies". I couldn't really understand that saying but always felt like it was a way to cajole us to eat.
I particularly loved my uncle too much, not because of the beautiful things he bought me but because of how he lived. He was always lively, making jokes and laughing loudly at his own jokes. When he was always around, my dad used to lighten up and those times were the happiest i had ever seen him.
Then the worst happened. My uncle was laid off work because they said they didn't have enough money to pay all the employees, so they had to let some of them go. Unfortunately he was part of the unlucky ones. How was he able to cater for his wife and six children without no work.
This became really hard, he tried looking for ways to get a new job but every time it just didn't work out. So he started to depend on his wife for everything, she'd pay the children fees and provide food for the house.
He became frustrated and starting looking for links to make money. He finally got one as an assistant. It had a good salary and it would sustain the family for a while. Things because better until the lockdown came, most of the workers were asked to stay home and everything went back to worse.
He became depressed, hardly called or even came to see us. My dad was really concerned about his brother, always called him sometimes sent him money, atleast something to keep him going.
Then just immediately after the first lockdown, he became very sick and was admitted in the hospital. I didn't bother ask what the sickness was because i just didn't want to know ( by the way, it wasn't the coronavirus).
He was kept like that without any change and then one day my dad got angry and asked that he be moved to his church. There he was prayed for and on the third day he got better, fully recovered and got back home.
Months passed and he went back to living his happy life. I really wanted to see "uncle double double" again (that was the nickname we used to call him), I vowed in my heart that I was going to change his situation when I become rich, make him rich again. But then, like a thief in the night, darkness enveloped him and took him away from me.
I don't know if he's in a better place, or misses any of us. I don't know what death feels like and wouldn't want to know yet. I just wished he was given one more chance, one more laugh, one more opportunity to make a happy dish ( he was an amazing cook), some more time to spend with me. If only all wishes come through.
The thought of his death just got me thinking about how petty life is. You're happy one minute, feeling fly, chasing the riches of this world and then boom, you're no more, all the struggle gone to waste, all the achievements become memories, you become a memory and slowly slowly start to fade away.
The only thing I can appreciate is that he lived his life to the fullest, found love and had six lovely children, some of which are even older than me. I know he went through a lot of challenges with enough reasons to hate life but at least he got to live it, and went to rest at his late fifties.
I'm not trying to scare you but I'm trying to make you see that life is a gift, freely given and can also be taken away from you.
The question is what do you do with this gift of yours??
Do you waste it away living in isolation, anger, hating others for the wrong they had done to you, living selfishly, hurting others by your words and actions, running after riches you might not be alive to enjoy, failing to enjoy your youth because you're to busy chasing one ambition or the other. The list goes on.
Whatever it is you're doing, remember you have only one life to live, so live it to the fullest, share happy memories with others, help put smiles on people's faces, help the needy, dance your ass out in happiness, take your children on a vacation and enjoy every moment with them, forgive that person that has wronged you, learn to love and love genuinely, try out new dishes and go on a tour, do something you've never done before and enjoy every moment of your amazing life because you deserve it, it's never too late to live knowing there's only one life to live.
Thank you for talking time to read this reflection of mine. I'm hoping I'll be able to make time and join the POB WOTW challenge this week and be in "paradise".