It may be ‘back to normal’, but make 2022 the year to care

Good grief! This last festive season raced by in a flash.

It’s back to normal in the Lotriet abode. The lovely Snapdragon and I return to work on Monday but the five-year-old Egg has already started Grade R at the local primary school. Not that it didn’t take convincing to get her to go.

When we flew back from Cape Town on Tuesday, she was adamant: she’s just going to pack a bag, pick up her dog and her Jozi grandmother and fly back to the Mother City. After her first primary school day, she told us school is fun, she considers staying. If the other clearly unintelligent kids in her class don’t irritate her, because she has assessed her classmates and she believes she is the brightest child there. By far.

But, her class teacher told me on Friday morning she’s only staying for a year or two. Egg gave the school notice that she’ll probably be a vet by 2024 and she plans to steal her father’s panel van to go and clean oily penguins.
When I phoned my mother yesterday to tell her about Egg’s career plans, my mom answered the phone with a tired voice.

“I’m sick,” my mom said.

“Pneumonia.”

“No,” my sister informed me when I called her to gain info on my mother’s condition. “She is a bit off, but the big problem is loneliness. Her flat is too quiet after you and your family left.”

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“Shouldn’t she go to hospital?” I asked.

“Don’t even dare to suggest that,” my sis replied. “According to her, we only want to send her to hospital to get rid of the responsibility to care for her.

“Apparently it’s unlikely that we’ll even visit her.”

“Shame,” Snapdragon said when I told her about my mother’s sudden illness. “Loneliness is a terrible thing.” She phoned my mom, told her we loved her and promised to visit again soon. The improvement in my mom’s condition was remarkable.

“This year, we must avoid getting overwhelmed by the daily rat race and care for each other,” she told me.

“Who are you and what have you done with the real Snapdragon?” I asked.

But, of course, she’s right. Our lives are extremely busy and we forget that we all have a penguin beating in our chests.

This year I plan to care for penguins.