I Promise!!!!

Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right.
- Oprah Winfrey

Just about a month to go before another new year unfolds and here I was trying to jot down my new year resolutions. I was so much in a contemplative mood trying to do a thorough introspection, that “S” looked up at me incredulously .Reason being it was very atypical of me to get engrossed in such reclusive activities. Not able to resist his urge to barge into my thought process he asked me “What are you up to now?”.

I have been having a nagging feeling of restlessness within me of late, that my day to day life is more and more self-centred. From the moment I wake up to the time I hit the bed, all my thoughts and actions are focused either around my immediate family or myself. It is the monotony of the same old routine that repeats itself day after day.

“S” couldn't help but say “Oh God are you saying we need to swap roles?”. .Please spare me for heaven’s sake”. I could clearly make out from his horror-stricken voice that he dreaded even the thought of having to play mom’s role for our 21 months old sweetheart. He always thinks Dads are the blessed souls.

However that was not even close to what I had in my mind. I was more concerned about what is it that I was contributing to the world to make it a wee bit better place to live in. Given the restrictions that I have to attend to my full time employer( my daughter) and cannot spend too much time outside of my house, I had to come up with some ideas that are viable . These were a few thoughts that gushed into my mind:

1) Try and be prompt in disposing off my unused and old clothes to charities on a more regular basis

2) Try and set up a bird house in summer in my patio

3) Try and save 20p per day every day and donate the accrued amount to an orphanage, at the end of the year. Please do not ask me how I arrived at the 20p figure. The intention was to keep it at a minimum so one does not feel the pinch of it.Also to make it a regular feature of everyday life, so that I can be grateful for whatever the great God has given to me and not whinge about a few trivial problems in life.

4) Try and be regular in calling up my relatives and friends and giving them a little praise for their adorable qualities.

5) Try and add a few plants to my front yard .

6) Try and use the recycling bin more often.

7) Pray for 5 minutes daily to the Almighty for the welfare of this world.

8) Try and feed the ducks in the lakes now and then with left over bread.

After noting down all these in a piece of paper, I showed my list to “S” who was in our kitchen gulping water. When he finished reading I could see tears in his eyes .

During a quieter moment later on the same day, I asked him with all earnestness which was the point in the list that moved him a lot and caused his tears.

He gave me a startled look and said “Err…when you came into the kitchen with your list on paper, I guess you failed to notice the chopping board with cut pieces of onions near me ….you know my eyes are too sensitive to these onions…”.

GOD SAVE US.