Category personal

Classic Quote of the Day #2

Vonita 2 Comments

Sure we can halve the development time.
Just beware the ‘minor technical debt’.

A Smile

Vonita 21 Comments

Over the past few weeks (months even), I’ve been somewhat burdened – life stress mounting and not always knowing how to handle situations. A general feeling of being overwhelmed perhaps is the right choice of words.

This evening I was challenged by the irrepressible Erika (I’m Free) to see the positives. (Which I must add I try to do as a practice, though the heavy feeling inside of me still persists).

Not five minutes after reading her message and thinking on it, a very sweet lady sitting next to me on the bus turned and thanked me for sharing my seat with her. I was sitting on a “one-seater” at the front and moved up to make space for her. She said it was very kind of me, and she really appreciated it. It was my stop soon after, and she waved and smiled at me as the bus drove past. She smiled with such a sweet, kindly smile it was impossible not to be touched.

A small moment proving again a higher power is at work.

Dances with Wolves

Vonita 16 Comments

Last night we re-watched the 1990 classic Dances With Wolves, featuring a much younger Kevin Costner. It has made me feel sad, with the thought running through my mind, there is just no happy ending. The first time I watched it was in 1991, my second last year of high school. I watched it with my mother and a couple of my school friends at a now closed cinema (Flora Centre). When I think back on it now, it feels like a different lifetime away.

Keep on thinking of the original caretakers of the land, Bushman of the Kalahari, Australian Aboriginals, and the ongoing destruction of our planet. The wildlife on near-extinction lists, the destruction of the oceans etc.

What world do our children have to look forward to?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dances_with_Wolves

Angels

Vonita 15 Comments

For the past four weeks we have been cycling on Saturday mornings. My husband is a cyclist and my son is turning out to be an ace on a bike too. If I don’t join them and my daughter, I am resigned to staying at home alone (housework is not totally my thing).

Last week we stopped at the traffic light, on the sidewalk waiting to cross over. My son was a few millimeters too close to the road. I called out to him to move back as I was last in line, and he was at the front with pedestrians in between. As I was calling out, a bus came rushing past, it missed the front of his bicycle by an arm’s length. The driver hooted at him and I could feel the wind from the passing bus. My son’s one foot was clipped into the pedal so he was sort of attached to the bicycle. It was one of those moments that feel as though an angel was right there protecting my son. It still makes me shudder when I think of it.

Until.

Yesterday we went further than we should have. We went as far as my daughter and I could go, but then still had to make our way back. At one unknown point in the road we crossed over – my son and his dad ahead, my daughter and then myself (I’m always lagging behind). It was a slip road, and my daughter never crossed over directly, she was cycling diagonally over it. I was already on the other side. I thought to myself – she is on the road – and yelled out, get off the road! As I was calling out, I saw a bus appearing to be coming towards us. I watched my daughter continue cycling and make it to the side just as the bus hurtled past us, followed by another with neither seeming to have any indication of breaking.

My heart stopped in that moment. (Can’t even bear to think about it). I had to thank the Angel(s) again for keeping my family safe.

I woke up this morning with this moment in my head and had to say thanks once again. My children are safe. And they both so easily could not have been.

Stranger and Friend

Vonita 41 Comments

It is a necessary evil to travel the elevators at my work, even though I am claustrophobic, I work on the fifth floor of a heritage-listed building, and we are not allowed access from the stairwell from the ground floor as it opens onto the road. I always hope that my elevator-journey will provide some company so as to calm me if the lift stops working. Today a random person entered, and chatted to me in an American accent all the way to level 4. Said person was really open and friendly. It felt like a breath of fresh air. Mostly when people enter the elevator, unless they are with someone when they do so, they don’t make conversation. In general. So to have someone enter and start chatting to me as if we were friends was really great. It made me think of all the beautiful WordPress writers who are so encouraging and supportive.

Thank you to all those who have shared some kindness around my world!

❤

On Fire

Vonita 14 Comments

Today I’m on fire. I’ve had a slow cooker cooking today, and this evening I put one of the hot plates on by mistake. Not realizing the cord of the slow cooker was on the plate. My laptop power tripped and when I looked towards the kitchen, I saw red flames. My reaction was a bit delayed. I stood looking at the fire thinking to myself, there’s a fire. In slow motion. Now what? Okay, calm. Fire. Calm. Put. Out. Fire.

I grabbed a tea towel and fortunately the fire was small enough for me to put out with a tea towel.

My reaction was very similar to a time when my daughter aged three, nearly drowned. She was submerged, and I was two swimming lanes away from her. My mind went into slow motion. Daughter. Underwater. Drowning. Save daughter. I waded across calmly and yanked her out. Just in time.

Dinner is nearly ready?

Coming to America

Vonita 14 Comments

Enjoy the day!

4th of July

Vonita 9 Comments

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I woke up this morning and the time included the date 4th of July.

I’ve never wished anyone a happy 4th of July before, because for us in the Southern Hemisphere, it is just another winter’s day. Do people wish each other a happy 4th of July? Peace and love? I am on the outside looking in, but just to say I wish you all the best. Thank you to those who have shown me so much kindness. And be safe.

Xx

Growing

Vonita 13 Comments

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Yesterday I wrote about all the qualities I would like my daughter to have. Confidence, leadership, self-esteem etc. And ended my post by concluding that she is everything I am not. I have updated the conclusion to add that I can grow to have those qualities too. If we are alive we are either growing or dying. I am not dead or dying. I can still grow to have those qualities I feel I lack. Truth is, I am stronger than I believe. I had the courage to move my family to a safer country. To leave everything I knew behind. My life, my home, my work, my family, and start a life in a new world. I have had the courage to say no to my children, and discipline them when required. I have the courage to be honest with myself, and I have the courage to grow.

Match-maker

Vonita 9 Comments

A post I read yesterday took me back a few years. There is only one blogger I know in real life and she is the author of Reaching Meadow Lane.

The person she wrote about in her blog post yesterday was someone who joined our company at a very special time in my life. I was single and had finally accepted my fate. He started in the January of 2001, and his first task was to manage an IT project I had been assigned to. Along with two engineers who had recently joined our company. I remember walking into the kitchen and the manager lamented the fact that he had no “cooking clue” what he was doing in his new role outside of the military. Oh don’t worry about that, I quickly replied, I never have a cooking clue! A quote that stuck!
The four of us worked on the project in the jan, feb and March of that year. The project was successful and the two engineers and myself were given complimentary movie tickets “on the project”. A little match-making, I daresay 😉 Towards the end of March my one colleague started waiting for me in the basement so he could carry my laptop for me. Ha! On the 1st of April, a Sunday, we entered into a relationship. Up until that point he had been trying his best to remain a bachelor. Double ha! Gotcha! The following January we married, and are now living our happily ever after.

Congrats on the news in the US that those who would like to take the step of commitment may now have the opportunity to do so.

Inspired by the following post:
https://reachingmeadowlane.wordpress.com/2015/06/25/military-man-protection/