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Oribi Mom: More of a Garden and Fewer Snakes

“As I did, I saw the slender scaled body with its classic rhombic kaleidoscope.”

CJ at 18 months in Oribi Mom’s trusty gumboots.

May 2, 2022

It’s been over 18 months since I was bitten by a night adder in our garden. My baby was strapped to my chest, asleep, as I admired the snake lily just pushing up its first glossy leaves from a bare patch of soil. My toddler was standing next to me, chatting away about something that Bob the Builder had done.

I moved my foot and felt a sharp prick that was sore enough to make me jump. I lifted my foot to peer round the side of my baby in the carrier. As I did, I saw the slender scaled body with its classic rhombic kaleidoscope. An indignant adder slithered into the nearby groundcover as it puffed up and down to show its disapproval at being stepped on.

I couldn’t believe it.

But the hole just above my ankle proved that takkies are useless against snakes, even smallish ones.

One Year On and No More Bites

Rhombic night adder, also known as causus rhombeatus. Photo for illustration purposes only. (Wikipedia)

 

So much has changed, but I still stood in front of this year’s blooms in wonder. As I looked at the bloom in that very spot a year later, I could hear my now one-year-old and his brother playing happily somewhere in the same garden.

The snake lily had sprung its first ever flower, the magnificent paint brush that comes up a few weeks before any leaves start to appear. It was exquisite. The tree it was underneath was finally tall enough for me to stand under. Our home was now a three-room farmhouse instead of the one-room cottage it had been just the year before.

In a way it feels like I’ve run a marathon in that time of transition.

Keep Going – Just One Day at a Time

A slow race to escape a coronavirus. A sprint to ration food as insane riots shut down all safe access to town. A slog uphill through load shedding and another year of cancelled birthday parties. It’s been like holding up an elephant while interval training through a growing sense of isolation.

If there was ever a doubt that digital connections aren’t enough, the pandemic has been living proof. We need face-to-face school, church, and friends. We need someone to call when pain sinks its teeth into our vulnerable moments. It is almost time now to move on.

Who do you call on? Neighbours? Family? God?

There will always be night adders in the garden, but we don’t have to let them take us by surprise. Oh, and we can choose to wear gum boots the next time.

Published here.

Oribi Mom

Oribi Mom: Walk Around In Other People’s Skins a Little More

“The questions have levelled up to some insightful dilemmas, too. “Mama, why did Lowly worm have to save Sea Captain Tilly from drowning? She’s a hippo!””

Empathy and compassion and love are not easy when it means that our own comfort is in jeopardy, but that’s what makes life richer. PHOTO BY MATHYAS KURMANN on UNSPLASH

October 21, 2021 

I have always loved to read. Lately, I have been appreciating this special gift as I start to read more interesting books to my children. Leveling up to actual stories feels like quite an achievement as we move beyond short, punchy sentences.

When you have been stuck behind books that count to 10 or describe colourful pictures like something big and blue, it seems like something to celebrate when you can see Edward Bear bumping down the staircase in your child’s imagination. We’ve moved from ‘shiny train’ to all the amazing fishes in McElligot’s pool and Nutkin’s brush with Old Brown.

The questions have levelled-up to some insightful dilemmas, too. “Mama, why did Lowly worm have to save Sea Captain Tilly from drowning? She’s a hippo!”

Bet you never thought of that, Mr Richard Scarry.

Reading Is Such an Adventure, Isn’t It?

One of my adult reads was a classic that included the quote from Atticus, the father in Harper Lee’s How to Kill a Mockingbird. He told his feisty daughter not to judge another person until she had a chance to ‘…climb into his skin and walk around in it.’

I have also seen this empathy echoed in my son’s little stories and it opens doors to some hard conversations. Why should Grandma Tildy take the elephant in from the cold when it will eat all her winter rations and break through her old floorboards?

Why, indeed.

Walking Around in Other People’s Shoes Isn’t Always Comfortable

Empathy and compassion and love are not easy when it means that our own comfort is in jeopardy, but that’s what makes life richer.

Is someone you know pushing against the vaccine? Walk around in their skin a little more to understand why.

Are you angry that someone you’re close to is not yet registered to vote? Delve deeper, but do it gently.

Your choices are not your neighbour’s but we are all happier when there are dialogues, open questions, and kindness enough to see it from another angle.

If we disagree, we are human. If we still remain friends, we are better humans.

A Little Compassion Can Change a Life – Your Own Included

I don’t know why Grandma Tildy told the elephant he could come inside from the snowstorm – he ate all her food, broke her floor, and couldn’t get out the door.

But, when he carried her house on his back, all the way to a warmer place, it doesn’t seem so crazy.

Maybe, we should rather talk to the white elephant in the room and see if it can take us to greener pastures.

Published here.