Carpe Diem
Seizing the day when the days seem to be getting shorter
Live life fully.
I stare out the window, amazed by the perfectly blue sky. The clouds look drawn today. Picture perfect it seems. I think of the many times I looked out the window at my parents’ place. Daydreaming.
How things have changed. Now, I’m a parent - which still feels surreal at times- . They say you don’t know what you have till its gone and right now this saying doesn’t just apply to losing someone, or realizing that the person you were dating was actually really great and that the streets that you desperately wanted to be on are wild and not in a good way.. - sorry for getting off topic- but I’m talking about being a mom of two and not having as much free time as I did when it was just me. Now, even though it is not impossible it is much harder to be spontaneous and do things on a whim. While a one week vacation would have just been about me buying a ticket, looking for a nice hotel - preferably with a pool and a beautiful rooftop bar-, packing my bags and getting to the airport; a one week vacation whether with or without the girls, would involve a whole lot more planning than traveling solo. I am responsible for more than one life now. Which is crazy to me at times, because being responsible for my own life is a task that’s already pretty heavy, let alone two more…
I have been thinking about time lately, and how we use it or don’t use it. Back in the day, pre kids I was a home body, just give me a good book or a great series and you would find me in my room for hours and hours on end. Sometimes I would get dressed, take the train, get off the train and walk to my boyfriends’ place just to change into his sweats and do the same thing I was doing at home, just on his couch. I look back and smirk because I really had a lot of time on my hands, for myself, and I didn’t fully use it. I mean, if you’re a mother reading this I’m sure you’ll get it: it is a high end luxury, if you’re able to just leave the house and come back whenever without kids…don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade being a mom for anything in this world but if you’re reading this and you’re not in charge of a baby or two or three, use that time to be spontaneous, to travel, to go out in the evening, to meet up with friends, to go on dates, to book that weekend trip you’ve been postponing for 7 consecutive months, to let the trip leave the group chat, to go out with your people, to stay in a restaurant laughing talking eating drinking until the waiters are practically throwing you out, to visit that one friend who moved to Paris or Barcelona or Accra. Seriously, because even though you’ll still be able to do all those things when you have kids, it will be a whole lot easier to do these things without them. And if you do have one or a couple of kids to take care of, still try your best to do those things mentioned above. It is not impossible. Challenging? Sure. But who doesn’t love a good challenge am I right?
It is perfectly fine not to go out everyday but every now and then plan something that is out of the ordinary day to day life you’ve got going on. The memories will stay forever. Document what you’re doing in writing, in pictures, in videos for yourself or for the world to see; however you please. But whatever you do, don’t let the days go by doing nothing thinking that there is always tomorrow. Because the older I get, the more people I loose, the more it becomes evident that tomorrow is not promised and that life is shorter than anyone of us would like to admit. Time can go by so fast and in the blink of an eye everything can change. That’s a given. The best way to deal with it is to use time for our advantage.
Do more of the things that make our souls light up, more things that make our heart smile, truly carpe the *f* out of diem. Not necessarily living everyday as if it was our last because I think that there would be a certain sadness lingering around and I wouldn’t want that. Also the pressure would be too much for me; but hey that’s just me.
Really living, and stopping to smell the roses; making lemonade and sharing it with loved ones; looking at leaves dance when the wind blows their way, enjoying sunsets and sunrises, admiring the moon and the stars, dance in the rain, bask in the sun.
You know: living.
Love,
Maame.
