Tender

Last year I had shifted to Charlottesville, Virginia. The cold winter night of February saw us–my daughter Nola, her two eldest M1 and M2 lugging my newest purchases to the condo. We were extremely tired. In the afternoon, we had vacated the hotel, and had gone on a shopping spree trying to get what we needed to set home for me.

Nola was setting up the mattress in the spare bedroom for herself. I stepped back. My feet entangled in the plastic covering for the mattress, and fell jarring my bones, my toe nail throbbing painfully, one front tooth chipped, a leg twisted, smashed face downwards into the cold floor.

One arm felt tender for days on end. It was a horrible first night in my new home.

…

DAILY PROMPT

Tender

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/tender/

Share Your World – January 2, 2017

Would you prefer to receive a unicycle, bicycle, tricycle or motorcycle?

A bicycle would be good enough for me, but I think my children would kick up a storm if they heard I have acquired one. Why? They will be worried that I may fall, and break a bone.

What is one thing you’d like to accomplish this year?
I would love to do some needlework. I haven’t done it for years now, and would like to gain heartfelt satisfaction in doing so. It was a hobby dear to my heart. 

What was one of the highlights of 2016 for you?

It was when I got my own place in Charlottesville, Virginia. I was over the moon. Friends, and family ask me, “Don’t you get bored when you are on your own?” Or “How do you exist?” To both questions the answer is no. I am now used to my own company, and time passes so quickly.

Would you prefer to fly a kite or fly in a hot air balloon?
I have never been in a hot air balloon, and would love to try it. I hope so — some day in the future. I look forward to it. 

Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

Changing of the guards at Wagah border– the dividing gate between Pakistan, and India. To this side is the Pakistan Rangers, and the other side is Indian Army.

I am grateful to God for giving me time to spend with my daughter, and her family. Although it was a hectic schedule of traveling, but we got to see many places. With all that traveling I have got a runny nose, and a raging diarrhea. I am terribly sick, but still happy that I got to spend time with Nola. She has gone back, and I have only memories to keep me company.

I am looking forward to getting better, and eating proper food. At the moment I have rice, and bananas to eat. I miss my cup of tea. Due to lactose intolerance I can’t even have yogurt. 

…
Share Your World – January 2, 2017

Sanctuary

The Mosque at San Jacinto, Galveston, Texas. You can see inside the Praying area.

My son and two grandsons praying

……

My earlier sanctuary for a long time was my home in Peshawar. Entering it brought peace of mind. After moving here permanently in 2013, I was far away from home, and would feel lost. I felt insecure, and wondered often (how I chafed at myself), at the decision I took at the insistence of my children that I should move here.

When I bought my small apartment in Virginia in February this year, it became my inner source of peace. I lived there for a short while. I felt extremely sad at leaving it last month to live with my son in Houston.

How long I last here, I have no inkling. At present when I enter my room, I feel happy. It’s where I say my prayers, and go to sleep— it’s my sanctuary.

……….

DAILY PROMPT

Sanctuary

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/sanctuary/

Simplicity

When one remains simple, life  is uncluttered. I have known it to be true — but time and again I forget.

In February of this year I moved to Virginia. Got a home, but except for a few plates and cups which I had brought with me from Peshawar, there was nothing much in the house. I could have brought stuff from back home, but because of baggage restrictions I couldn’t bring more with me.

19th February was a whirlwind, and the bitterly cold night found us (my daughter and I), at Sam’s Club to buy queen sized mattresses. Kitchen gadgets and electric things were acquired from Target. I later found out it would have been much cheaper to get them from Walmart. We did get cotton sheets and pillows, towels, bathroom and kitchen accessories from there. I would have preferred Bed, Bath and Beyond but mindful of spending I checked myself.

Anyway I needed a bed while Nola told me to keep simple for the time being. My backache was growing due to bending, to lie down on the  matteress, and my left leg grew prone to sciatica. So along came my bed, a night table, a huge dresser and mirror. Why the other things? My bed did indeed needed its companions, but now I find myself in the doldrums. Why? Because of the move back to Texas due to my son’s situation.

Now I will have to spend money on a big truck to haul back my living room, dining room, bedroom stuff to Texas. If I put them on sale nobody is going to buy it at half price even. It’s barely three months since I bought them. Life gets changed in a blink of an eye. You never know what lies ahead, and what God has ordained for you.

So here is what I am saying to myself. Why didn’t I stick to remaining simple with less things? It would have been more simpler to move back.

Why did I forget?

…………………………………………………………………………..

DAILY PROMPT: Simplicity

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https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/simplicity/

 

Nerves

  

Today was the last day of my getting driving lessons from my driving instructor Mike. As I have written before driving is totally a different experience back home. 

My nerves have gone haywire when I am in the driving seat. Today Mike had me changing lanes frequently at high speeds. Once I got the hang of it, it wasn’t difficult. But the first moments did seem difficult. He told me to take deep breaths to calm my nerves.

He gave me the thumbs up sign for now, but he did say I stunk in driving when he arrived the first day.

I hadn’t really driven (in practice) a car from 2011-Feb 2016. When my late husband had become sick, we were totally dependent upon a driver. Then the last three years I spent with my son in Houston, he was not letting me buy a car. He would say, “Mama! You don’t really need a car, when I am there to take you around”.  Although in reality I waited a fortnight for him to take me anywhere.

I can only pray that my nerves don’t fail in the tests I have to take before I get my Virginia license.

Nerve

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A Choice Not Liked

At the moment, my memory is in shambles. I am stressed at the choices I have to make –stay in Houston, or move to Virginia. The home I liked my son dithered on it to make a bid on my behalf. I could visulize myself there, planning fruit trees to be planted and a vegetable garden. Alas it’s not to be.

The one still available on the market is in a terrible state of disrepair. My son S wants me to make up my mind over it. It has got all the three good schools— elementary, middle and high, and S thinks if I needed to sell it at a later stage it’s a plus point. I don’t like it at all. It’s big for me — all I want is a two bedroom house and that’s it. S says I can work on it one room at a time. I don’t like the work it entails and my heart feels heavy at the choices I need to take.
DAILY PROMPT

Unpopular

Tell us about a time when you had to choose between two options, and you picked the unpopular choice.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/unpopular/

Oft Repeated

 
I wish the Daily Prompt comes up with some new topics. This said I will write about the trip we took to Carvins Cove, Virginia. The Carvins Cove Natural Reserve spreads over 12,700 acres, and is known for hiking, biking, fishing, boating and kayaking.

My daughter Nola had packed a lunch to take with us. It consisted of baked chicken wings, corn on the cob and a salad of strawberries, fresh spinach, tangerines and walnuts. After finishing with lunch we returned to the lake.

We had two options. One was kayaking, and the other one was pedal boating. I don’t know swimming. As a child I didn’t have an opportunity to learn, and as an adult I had become a bit squeamish. Then a time came when I wanted to learn, my (late) husband squished the idea.

The lake was fifty feet deep so Nola and I opted for a pedal boat as both of us were non swimmers. The four children (two to one kayak) donned their vests and were soon mere specks on the lake. 

Nola made me sit first in the boat. We wore vests too. Nola climbed over with strict instructions that if the boat turned over I should hang on to the side of the boat, and shouldn’t let go. The boat had a mind of its own. It didn’t want to leave the shore. We would face it outwards, and it would turn inwards. After struggling with it, Nola called out to a boater who had arrived with his own boat. His reply was he knew his own boat, and had never sat in a pedal boat. Many like him were arriving with their own large boats.

It was disheartening. There we were ready to take off on our adventure and we weren’t able to do so. We climbed down. While I waited, Nola went to the couple who let us hire their kayaks and boat. There was no refund of money. The couple had charged us more for the use of the pedal boat.

We took a kayak and changed our vests. We were soon on the lake. I won’t deny the fears I had that if it capsized I will be touching the bottom. Nobody was there to save us. The owners had told us the tales of those who didn’t make it.

We soon got the hang of it. To turn right we used the oar to the left, and to turn left it was the other way round. To go straight we used both sides. One hour passed so quickly. It was fun. It was a cloudy day so we didn’t get sunburned.

The children didn’t want to leave. They were persuaded to leave with a promise of seeing the movie The Antman at the theater. With our muscles and joints aching with the unaccustomed exercise we headed home.

Daily Prompt: Missing Sequels

If you could create a sequel to one favorite (standalone) movie, which would it be? How would it build on the original?

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/missing-seqeuls/

Nothin’ But A Good Time

  
My idea of fun time may differ from others. I arrived back from Roanoke, Virginia on 18th at one in the morning. My connecting flight to Houston was via Atlanta. There was a severe storm over it by the time the plane circled overhead, so the plane was diverted to Knoxville, Tennessee. We stayed put in the aircraft for an hour and a half.

By the time we reached Atlanta, I had missed my next flight. It had left an hour ago. Finding out I should head to which terminal was another headache. There were long lines, all wanting to know when next flights were available, and they should go in which direction.

All the items in my checked bag were soaking wet when I opened it at home. What happened to it? I don’t know. I am trying to dry out my stuff. Thankfully the lovely wall hangings (gifts from my daughter) are dry — a miracle, because God’s Words were on them.

My favorite carry on is torn, and one wheel is broken. I heard the scrunching noise when the stewardess rammed it into the overhead storage space. I didn’t realize that my carry on has gone on its last journey. Luckily my iPad and Surface 3 survived the impact.

Since yesterday my idea of having a good time is having uninterrupted sleep, and wishing my room to be in order.

Daily Prompt

Imagine that tomorrow, all of your duties and obligations evaporate for the day. You get the day all to yourself, to do anything you please. What types of fun activities would make your day?

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/nothin-but-a-good-time/

Through the Window

  
The mountains look blue and grey

Grey clouds dot the sky

Maybe it will rain

Or the clouds will just pass by

(Sheen)

Another view (same place)

  
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/through-the-window/

Through the Window

Go to the nearest window. Look out for a full minute. Write about what you saw.

Embarrassment

It happened to me yesterday. I was on the flight from Houston to Atlanta, and onwards to Roanoke, Virginia. When the flight reached Atlanta, for some reason the aircraft’s doors weren’t opened for the passengers to disembark. We remained sitting for quite some time.

After getting off the plane, I asked for directions to the next terminal for boarding the plane. It wasn’t mentioned on my boarding pass. The lady put me in a cart to catch the train to the terminal.

I didn’t look at the time, figuring I had enough until boarding started. I went to a restroom, leisurely brushed my teeth, and freshened up. After putting my hijab back on, I wandered to my terminal.

Some people were standing in lines, while others were sitting. I thought the lines were for a different flight, so I didn’t take any notice.

I immersed myself in playing Sudoku on my IPad. I had not set the time to change automatically on my IPad. It was set to Houston time. Atlanta was one hour ahead.

After finishing my game it registered with me that the whole sitting area was empty. I went to the desk to enquire, and was told that the flight was already boarded. The chap knew my name without my telling, as I was the last one straggler.

Wasn’t I embarrassed to see everyone waiting for me. I was looking for my seat number. It was at the back of the plane. The sweet couple sitting at the back of my seat laughed, and said, “Here you are. It’s all yours”. The man got up to help me in stowing my carry on.

Thank God I didn’t miss my plane, otherwise I would have caused unnecessary worry to my children.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/isnt-your-face-red/

Isn’t Your Face Red

When was the last time you were embarrassed? How do you react to embarrassment?