Caught off guard when good luck comes your way

I was behaving like a woman who is so used to her husband checking into the house in the wee hours of the morning, she almost faints with surprise when she finds him seated in the living room at 6 pm, and on a Friday, of all days. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • If you don’t live in Kenya, you’re probably reading this incredulously, wondering whether a mere 30-something minutes is really worth getting giddy about.

  • Many possibilities went through my mind – that maybe it was a public holiday I had forgotten about.

On Tuesday last week, something strange happened. For some reason, the morning traffic wasn’t as brutal as it normally is, and for the first time this year, I managed to get to work a whopping 37 minutes earlier than I usually do. It was akin to receiving a surprise present.

If you don’t live in Kenya, you’re probably reading this incredulously, wondering whether a mere 30-something minutes is really worth getting giddy about. For those who have to put up with our legendary traffic jams daily, trust me, it is.

Anyway, I was so puzzled by how “quickly” we were making our way into the city centre, I kept looking out of the window frantically, left and right, wondering what was wrong because this was definitely not what I was used to.

I found this turn of events so strange, it did not occur to me to say a silent prayer of thanks for this wonderous blessing that had come so early in the week. I was too busy trying to decipher what could have gone wrong.

PUBLIC HOLIDAY

Many possibilities went through my mind – that maybe it was a public holiday I had forgotten about. Or perhaps the particular highway we were using had been blocked off by the police for one reason or another, or there was a riot of some sort up ahead and the motorists in the know were avoiding that route.

Come to think of it, could a dual carriage way been constructed overnight up ahead? Wait a minute! Maybe The Rapture had taken place and I was one of those left behind!

Generally, we should be happy and grateful when good things happen to us, yet here I was, just as anxious as I usually am when stuck in unmoving traffic jam, trying hard to decipher my unexpected good fortune instead of welcoming it with both hands, no questions asked. I guess that we’re too used to having a raw deal, the wrong end of the stick, so much that we are caught off guard when good things happen to us.

I was behaving like a woman who is so used to her husband checking into the house in the wee hours of the morning, she almost faints with surprise when she finds him seated in the living room at 6 pm, and on a Friday, of all days.

GASP IN PANIC

“What’s wrong?! Are you okay?” she is likely to gasp in a panic, searching his face for any signs of pain or discomfort, and checking to see whether all his limbs are intact, yet he simply decided to come home early that day.

Or like a relative who has never wanted anything to do with you all these years, and then calls you out of the blues, or “worse”, turns up at your doorstep one Saturday afternoon, bearing enough shopping to feed a small village.

You graciously welcome the relative, but at the back of your mind, you’re wondering what exactly she wants from you, sure that she’ll drop her ulterior motive before she eventually says goodbye – it does not occur to you, even for one minute, that this could be her way of trying to make up for lost years, of trying to forge a relationship the two of you should have had years ago.

SMILE

Or like a colleague who normally ignores you coming up to you one day, and with a wide smile plastered on her face, says, “Wow! That’s a beautiful dress you have on – I like the shoes too,” and then walks away.

Instead of reveling in the warm feeling that’s supposed to come over you when you’re complimented, you rack your brain for the next two hours wondering what her unfriendly anti-social self is up to. It’s a discouraging way to live, isn’t it? 

[email protected]; Twitter: @cnjerius. The writer is the editor, MyNetwork, in the Daily Nation