Counting the days of our lives

‘Christmas is just around the corner,” she said. And you know how time flies, mom.

“In a blink of an eye, we will all be together again. Then we will spend at least two days here. We’ll book into a B&B and maybe take a drive out to the dam one day.

“Dad always liked to go out into the countryside.”

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I wasn’t eavesdropping. But I couldn’t help overhearing the conversation.

It was Mother’s Day and she was explaining to her mother that Christmas would be their next rendezvous.

But then it will be a grand family reunion, she said, as the brother from Australia would also be in the country.

Apparently, they take turns celebrating Christmas with the parents, alternating between his and hers. And this year, it’s his.

So mom will also see her grandchildren again for the first time in two years. Christmas is just around the corner, she emphasised.

And yes, it is, especially with the crazy filled-to-the-brim lives we lead in the race to get to our graves.

One would think there’s a gold medal in every coffin. Between now and Christmas, we will have an election, two changes of season, a number of public holidays, Mandela Day, matric exams, Father’s Day – and so the list continues.

Children and grandchildren will have at least another 30 music lessons, dance rehearsals, choir practices and extra maths classes before Santa comes around to reward them for a year of hard work.

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Parents have already started planning December holidays, knowing that they have just eight pay cheques to yet again ensure a dream vacation.

Varsity applications, the eternal quest for bursaries, budgeting for cars for first-year students, also comes into play for matriculants and their parents hoping to one day hang a graduation photograph on an office wall.

And while we are all living life at the speed of light, old age homes across the country are institutions where time ticks away far too slowly.

Too many of our aged spend their time clock-watching – counting the days or the minutes before the next visit from children or grandchildren. Time flies.

But for some, it really crawls along painfully slowly. For some old folk, Christmas is not around the corner. It’s an eternal wait.