I opened my eyes and found that all of a sudden it was March. Where did the time go??? I have not posted in a chunk of time due to mental spaciness or lack of inspiration or well just unwillingness to give in and let the thoughts hit the screen. Who knows.. but this post will be a brief update of our outings and such.
Over the past few months I have had moments where my soul is locked up and the routine of life has taken over. Call it depression, call it laziness, call it fear... or accumulation of the three, either way I found it difficult to get out and do things that were not part of the routine. Groceries are taken care of by hubby due to my lack of driving skills here. Evening walks for the kids were also occasionally done by hubby, and I forced myself to at least once a week get the kids out and do something, if not more than just go sit by the water.
It seem that once all the chores were done and all the hot meals done and the kids looked after in terms of school stuff.. then it would be dark and I would be exhausted mentally and would not want to wander out. Late mornings bring later days and the cycle continues.
My first venture out of my mental block was grasping a Friday afternoon to leave the kids home alone and go out and have a coffee and read some Quran. What an exhilarating feeling that was. Minor in concept, major in accomplishment. This led to more little outings, walk just a block further, turn just another corner etc etc.
So the past week this is what I have done. Get up and get the chores done, the major meal cooked and either fed or ready to be fed to those who were ready to be fed. One major assignment or school subject conquered. And a few bits of change, the house key, and my camera and walking shoes on and we hit the streets. Where do we go... well one day it was to the beach, which led to a really long walk down the board walk to a far side of town... and one thing we have learned when venturing out with kids.. is pay attention to how far you are going because the trek back will be further. AHHAHAHA. (slower means further these days). Another day we went down a new road and discovered that places such as our favorite juice stand, or Mosque, or mini grocery store that usually seem so far with a car.. are actually just down the road. We cut through allies, smelled flowers, took pictures, paused to take in the awesomeness of new areas revealed to our eyes. Another day we hit the beach again but instead of going the road we went before, this time we played soccer in the grass, and then took off our socks and shoes and wandered through the sand. Then worked our way home but down a different path. More pictures, more smells, and lots of new colors were found.
Now we may not get out and about everyday, although it is very easy to do so... but I am going to make a better effort of turning over new stones and paths. We will have a day here and there to play mental catchup, to recuperate and gather new ideas. But I refuse to let the fearsome depressive laziness take over my whole world. I do not want to be sucked into the dark void of everyday routine that commonly makes life so miserable. I normally am a very positive person.. so the dark side is not one I like to sit in for very long.
There are just so many parts of this city that are still to be discovered. What have you not seen where you live? How long has it been since you last wandered your backyard???