A Girl Needs To Sleep
Insomnia. This sucks! Until recently, I have been having a big problem when it comes to sleep. I couldn't find that one thing that would get me to sleep. I finally found myself sleepy on a fine night. That was going to be it. I was going to sleep like never before...I was in bed by 10.40pm. Baby Steps...
11.00pm MONDAY
Mum: Paulaaaa…!!!
Mum: Kwani uyu mtoto amelala? (Is this child sleeping?)
(Still debating whether I should respond or not)
I wasn’t asleep yet but I was very sleepy. Mum just doesn’t give up. She had to open the door.
Mum: Paulaaaa…!!!
Me: Mmmm…
Mum: Oh..you are awake. Nataka unisaidie aki nimekwama. (I need your help. I am stuck) Am really stressed!
Me: Ok..ni nini? (What’s up?)
Mum: Am trying to add an icon on this new WhatsApp group I have just created and imekataa..(its not working)
Could it be because its 11pm?! Maybe they just don’t work at 11pm!!! That is an emergency? Really mum…come on.
Me: Si ni rahisi tu. Vile tu ulichange ya family group juzi. (Its simple. Just the same way you change the icon in the family group the other day)
Mum: Aaa..aki wewe mtoto amka unisaidie nimesahau (You wake up and help me. I have forgotten)
Great! How would that be easy to remember? Mum made me type all the MS Word shortcuts that I know. Why? Just in case. Just in case what happens? You know, just in case. I take the phone and just before I unlock…
Mum: Now don’t just press things and give it back. Show me the step by step procedure.
Sure thing mum… Anything for you.
Mum: Asante aki…hii kitu imenistress tu sana (thank you so much. This thing had really stressed me up)
Me: Goodnight
Mum: Goodnight
11.20p.m MONDAY
From a distance…
Aunt: Paula amelala? (Is Paula asleep?)
Mum: She will just wake up.
Aunt: let me just open the door. She will wake up
***luhya***
NO! NO! NO…Not again. This had better be an emergency. Like probably someone needs a kidney. It had better be an urgent matter. A life or death situation. Door is open…
Me: Mmmmm…
Aunt: Ebu nisaidie kutuma vitu kutoka kwa simu ya mamako.(help me some things from your mum’s phone)
Are you kidding me? That is her emergency?! I was so mad I just started laughing. I can laugh. I laughed to the point I was in tears.
Me: Aunty kusema tu ukweli hamko serious. (To be honest aunty, you guys are not serious) You two need to know the meaning of an emergency.
Aunt: Aki wewe nisaidie tu (just help me)
Of course I will help. Its really hard to use bluetooth. I mean so hard. And its such an emergency past 11pm. Its such a serious thing that you need to have a video of an elephant struggling to get off the river on a raised bank. That and many more videos. This very one was the top priority. It was so urgent I had to wake up and attend to it. That was madness!!!
Me: Uko na flash share? (Do you have flash share)
Aunt: Ee..lakini sijui kutumia. Kwanza ebu nifundishe (yes. But I don’t know how to use it. Teach me!)
What had I gotten myself into?
Flash share tutorial took 10minutes. I had to repeat all I was saying 10times. Answering the very questions continuously. All the time wondering what was the point. I will repeat the tutorial soon. Only God knows when. We send the videos she wanted.
Aunt: Thanks. Niko na all videos nilitaka sasa. Kuna ingine mzuri unaeza nitumia? (Thank you. I now have all the videos I wanted. Are there any other nice ones that you can send?)
No way!! I wanted to sleep.
Me: Not really. Unless you ask mum
Aunt: Mama Lauraaaa…!!!
Oh no…not both of them. No…no…no…
Mum: Eee..!!
Aunt: come and help me choose good videos. Paula can send them to me now
Poor me…we sent 7 more videos.
11.45p.m. MONDAY
Now I can sleep peacefully. Finally.
Mum: Paulaaaa…!!!
Again? What now? Should I charge your phone too? Do you need to check your balance? Maybe someone sent a GIF and you need me to tell you what it is. I mean what new emergency do we have now?
Me: Mmmmmm…
Mum: at what time do we leave tomorrow?
Me: Lets see about that tomorrow
Mum: Goodnight
Me: Goodnight
12.00 MIDNIGHT
Mum: Paulaaaa…!!!
No way. Not again mum. I had to force sleep.
Door opens. Lights on. Damn! She is really good at this.
Me: Mmmm…
Mum: Should I switch off the security lights?
I see…So the lights had to be switched on to ask me if the outside lights can be switched off. Wow mum. Wow.
Me: Yes
Mum: Goodnight…kesho amkako mapema. (Wake up early tomorrow)
Me: Goodnight.
I had to wake up late. I just had to. My own pay back.
While we are all busy laughing at me, someone tell me how to teach my mum and aunt the real definitions of the words Emergency, Urgent and Priorities. I love them so much but they need it. Urgently. Its a real emergency. And its a priority right now.
Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby.
Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius
Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible.
You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end.
Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.
Ilove you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride.
Ilove you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall
asleep your eyes close. I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.
As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once
Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Life is about creating yourself
- Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.
- All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt
- I’m in love with you
“I am,” he said. He was staring at me, and I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. “I’m in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I’m in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have, and I am in love with you.”
