I recently told you that my almost 6-year-old boy figured out that the Easter Bunny was not real.
As predicted, good old Santa was next, but what I could have predicted was my child’s reaction to this revelation.
A few days after Easter I was in bed reading, when Daniël cuddled up to me.
“Mom… is Father Christmas the same as the Easter Bunny?”
There was long pause as I contemplated how to answer and he stared at me with those piercing blue eyes.
There was no way I could lie to that face.
Upon hearing the news did Daniël get angry or upset?
No, his immediate reaction was to one of elation and gratitude.
“So you gave me the bike!” he shouts and barrels into me with a hug and that was that.
Having to give up 2 fantasies in as many weeks has been devastating enough – for me that is – but his response floored me.
If gratitude was the attitude through which we approached everything, life would be quite different.
***
I had to work quite hard on my attitude on Sunday afternoon during our failed family outing to Harold Johnson nature reserve.
According to the website, the entrance gates are open between 6am and 6pm daily.
I did not think to phone ahead (more fool me) and we arrived at 3pm to find the entrance gate being closed firmly in our faces.
The lady at the gate was friendly enough but could only shrug and said they now closed early “because of Covid”.
It turns out phoning ahead would not have helped as the number listed on the Ezemvelo website is for a person who left their employement 3 years ago.
He told me he has given up trying to get it removed.
We had left home just after 2pm and got back around 4pm with nothing to show for it but rather disappointed children.
They had been very excited about ticking birds off in their new bird book.
We did see 3 beautiful Hoopoes on the side of the road and were grateful for it.
I cannot say I understand how closing a nature reserve early helps anything with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The pure randomness of some of the rules inflicted on us during what has already been a challenging year are immensely frustrating.
We did however get back to Ballito in time to discover that Sunday was the last day of a very big special on a pair of shoes we needed
“So there!” I exclaimed, determined to find the positive, “we would never have bought the shoes if Harold Johnson had been open.”
