Category prose

City Slickers

Vonita 24 Comments

image.jpeg

I was in the car with my daughter and her friend, in an area we don’t normally frequent. Actually, we were on an excursion to track down some Vietnamese-inspired cuisine to cross off an item from my husband’s bucket list. So off we went.
On our way back I spotted this wonderfully healthy looking tree spotted with apples. I couldn’t help but exclaim, look over there, can you see the apples on the tree? The two girls looked over and my daughter’s friend piped up, I’ve never seen apples on trees before. She will be eleven this year. Her comments stopped me in my thoughts. Is it really possible to be that disconnected from nature? When last did I see an apple on a tree?
Yes, all those piles of apples in our supermarket every day, the most common of fruit, they really do grow on trees.

Beyond Conprehension

Vonita 20 Comments

Why do bad things happen? So bad that it is beyond conprehension. This past week I read of the poor woman who was trapped in an elevator. No one rescued her. No one cared. The situation she was in is beyond imagination.

And on Monday a sixteen year old went jogging with her mom and sister. Tokai Forest, Cape Town. We picnicked there as children. She decided to run ahead, and ended up dead. Raped and straggled and murdered.

Where is the light? Why do these things happen? I don’t understand.

Circle of Life

Vonita 15 Comments

Full House ran for all the years I was in high school through my university years. I used to watch it every week. I remember clearly being on vacation at my grandmother in Cape Town, I was twenty at the time, and the theme song came on. My grandmother came through from the kitchen, and sat down to watch it. She loved Michelle!

So I couldn’t resist watching the new release Fuller House, even for old times sake. Well, I’m a sucker for nostalgia, so must admit for all its faults, I still enjoy seeing the original characters, even though they are now grown up. Though just not the same without Michelle, my grandmother’s favorite character. I guess she just moved on.

And it was strange watching with my daughter this time around. The loved ones in my world have been taken from me, and new ones been given.

Tapestry of Life

Vonita 19 Comments

image.jpeg

A colleague of mine turned thirty today. I spent a few minutes thinking back on my thirties. Just because I’ve been there and I can. I thought of how I can sum up those ten years of my life? Well, I spent much energy on unhelpful thoughts. But. I traveled to Hungary, Zimbabwe, the UK, Australia. My daughter was born. We moved countries. I saw both my children start at school. I volunteered with reading groups. And eventually, at the age of 39.5, I harnessed all my unhelpful thoughts, and began to yarn them into poetry. My tapestry of life. Passion through poetry.

Overjoyed!

Vonita 23 Comments
Handwritten Letter
Book of Rumi
Journal for writing
Pillowset
Tablecloth
Card adorned with kitten

Everyday I am so encouraged by the wonderful writers on WordPress and the amazing community spirit. I feel strengthened daily by the support of strong, positive, talented friends that I have made. This evening I received the most wonderful surprise, and feel so overwhelmingly touched that I would really like to share it! I have to share it, because I’m bursting with the news, I can’t keep it inside! My daughter was excited to find a parcel in our letter box, and couldn’t wait for me to arrive home to open it. Her dad wouldn’t allow her to as it was addressed to her mother. Can you imagine our surprise when I finally arrived home, and it felt like Christmas! Inside the parcel was a beautifully wrapped gift, so amazingly thought out, I have tears in my eyes! A collection of not one gift, but a whole parcel of different items. My daughter was able to guess a book, and ‘something soft’. We opened it to discover a book of Rumi poems, a beautifully bound journel with Old Istanbul depicted on the front, traditional design table cloth and pillow set, a handwritten letter, and a card with the most gorgeous kitten on the front! So much kindness and love in one parcel, that I do not have any words to express the meaning it has for me. All thoughtfully packaged my dear friend Nia. (Am sharing with permission). Nia has a soft, graceful, beautiful spirit and can be found here:

 

http://photographyofnia.com

She is also a cat lover! Thank you, dear Nia, from the bottom of my heart. And also from my daughter, she has already announced that she will cherish the pillow set forever. I am going to have a fight to get them back from her!

 

 

Never Again

Vonita 16 Comments

image

I was brave when I fell pregnant for the second time (my first pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage). I decided to take on nature and ‘be one with it’. I can so do a water birth(!), I figured. So I dragged the lucky husband to class, invested in a birthing ball, and selected the ‘best’ maternity clinic in Johannesburg. I dropped my doctor who was chief advocate for Caesarian sections, and enlisted the services of a wonderful midwife whom I had read about in a maternity magazine. The big day arrived and time to put everything into practice. We arrived at the clinic at about 5am, and after a quick examination the midwife declared that we could have baby out in about an hour. An hour? I repeated. There’s no ways I’m ready for a baby in an hour. And then my contractions started real bad. She offered to run the bath for me but there was no chance I was leaving the security of solid ground. I don’t want to see a bath. Or water, I told her. That’s fine, she replied, and left me to my contractions. There was nowhere to go, but on the floor and cling to the bed. The bed was on rollers, hospital style, so even that was not providing adequate anchor to my body that was about to explode into a million tiny pieces. Husband was hanging around, not knowing what to do. Just leave! I asked him. He’s not going anywhere. I eventually pleaded, take the birth ball and get it pumped up. He, of the male species that did this to me, the enemy.  I wanted the ball as much as I wanted the bath, but if he didn’t leave the room and soon I was going to murder him. With my bare hands. The midwife returned and I begged of her. Please! Put a gun against my head, I would rather be dead. Kill me now! Cut the baby out, just make it stop! She called the anesthetist, who was stuck in peak hour traffic. He finally arrived and administered an epidural. After a couple of hours it was time to push. A few minutes before noon, my baby was born. I looked over and saw a tiny grey body, not making a sound. Is he alive? Yes, he was alive and I was Mother. And after that, I decided I will Never do that again. And I haven’t! Some things you do once, and learn your lesson. Caesarian section with my daughter, and a walk in the park.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/never-again/

Black Forest Cake

Vonita 19 Comments

image.jpeg

It was my father’s birthday yesterday. I felt it quite strongly as I am so far away, and no idea when I will see him again. I called to wish him, and he was standing in  his local supermarket. He no longer works, and his age is starting to show. The manager at the supermarket offered him a complimentary cake to celebrate his birthday. My father took great pleasure in standing at the counter, and being able to choose a birthday cake for himself. There is often so much negativity that emanates from South Africa, the corruption and crime. But yesterday an old man was blessed with the gift of a birthday cake from a stranger who cared.

Vonita

Vonita 13 Comments

The second time my mother fell pregnant, my parents already had a ninth month old baby girl, and were not too overjoyed with the thought of another baby right away. A birth control fail that worked in my favor! Though perhaps I would be a boy they wondered, and they would name me Peter. But in the event of a girl, my parents had overheard the name Juanita somewhere, and my dad (I think) suggested Vonita. So when I popped out a girl and not a boy that’s the name they used. And no second name because they had already given my mother’s name Linda to my sister. And going up the chain would have given me Marion or Alma, but they just left it at Vonita.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/say-your-name/

Happy Place

Vonita 17 Comments

image.jpeg

This evening I went for a swim in our local pool. I was reminded again how swimming totally transports to my happy place. I don’t care about anything when I am submerged in water, the world becomes a wonderful, warm, magical place. All my troubles disappear. And this evening I was presented with the backdrop of cloudless blue skies and the green of overlooking trees, as the sun began to set. I cut my last lap short so I could grab a snap before the sun disappeared entirely. It is not the best photo, but I had to share it!

Drink Dancing-50 Word Story

Vonita 8 Comments

The wedding was in full swing. I was nine, turning ten. Music blared as a group gathered on the dance floor. With horror, I saw. My dad! I ran and hid. From my hiding place, I recognized the voices of my friends. They had recognized him! I curled up tighter.