My Weekend: Illusion of waiting for the future to be happy

The other day, I decided to go a little further in what has been my grooming routine for the last three months, so instead of stepping into one of my comfortable tracksuit bottoms, I wore something a little more flattering and even put on a little bit of make-up.

“Mum, where are you going?” my eight-year-old daughter immediately asked when she saw me.

“Nowhere,” I answered, only for her to point out that I was not wearing “home clothes”, therefore I had to be going somewhere.

A few days before, someone had shared on their social media page an exquisite-looking teapot set which she had inherited from her mother.

She had grown up seeing the breathtaking teapot with its matching cups and saucers, which her mother proudly displayed on the topmost shelf of the cupboard in their living room throughout her childhood.

SERVE TEA

Not once, however, did her mother ever serve tea in the set, and had forbidden her children from touching it lest they broke something. It was to be admired from afar.

Last year, her mother passed away and she suddenly found herself the proud owner of the teapot set she had coveted throughout her childhood. She says that it took her months to pluck the courage to use it, having been prohibited from even touching it for so many years.

Now, she says, the pot and its accompanying cups and saucers make a regular appearance on her dining table. She, unlike her mother, is intent on enjoying it fully.

Her story reminded me of all the things I have saved for special occasions, including cups and plates I have had for years but which I only use whenever I have visitors. I bought them, yet I never get to enjoy them, those who do don’t even know how much they cost me. Sad, isn’t it?

The other day, my eldest climbed onto the counter top and brought down a set of three ceramic containers written ‘sugar’, ‘coffee’ and ‘tea’, which I bought several years ago.

They are lovely, and every friend or relative who sees the set has never failed to admire it – it occupies a prominent place in my kitchen. The problem is that until my son brought it down, washed the containers and filled each with what was written on it, I had never made use of it, choosing to instead display it.

CONFIDENCE

I realised then that there are so many things we deny ourselves as we wait for the perfect moment, which may never come, things that we save for a future we cannot guarantee.

Saving that outfit or pair of shoes for special occasions which come only once or twice a year when you could wear them more, giving yourself more opportunities to elevate your confidence.

I cannot count the number of times I have heard people vow how differently they will live their lives once we “deal” with “corona”. I think we have realised just how much we are not in control of our lives, how fragile and abrupt life can be.

The situation we are in has opened our eyes to the fact that life should be lived fully, without holding back, with abandon since we are living on borrowed time.

It is time, therefore, to unlock that cabinet and bring out those expensive plates and cups you spent your hard-earned money on and enjoy them with your family, rather than wait for your chama meeting to show them off.

The writer is Editor, Society &Magazines, Daily Nation [email protected]