Whatever you decide to do. Make sure it makes you happy.
—Paulo Coelho
It was a week after the funeral. She had buried her hard-working Branch Manager husband, who had painstakingly worked from morn till sundown, risen from clerk to bank manager, sent two children to college & jobs abroad with the income, & given her a comfortable lifestyle.
It was a week after the funeral, as she rummaged in his cupboard, looking for documents & files he had meticulously kept, & it was then that she saw the secret compartment. She opened it trembling, she did not want to know any secret about her husband, she did not want to find anything that would disturb memories of the solid, dependable, hardworking man he’d been.
But she opened the compartment. She felt something light & papery to the touch, then slowly, carefully pulled out, not one, not two but a dozen kites. They were fresh as if just bought from the kite shop down the road, & she wept as she saw them.
“One day,” he’d told her, “I’ll have time to fly kites on the terrace!”
“You seem to have flown them before?” She’d said.
“I loved them when little,” he’d said, “I loved the feel of the kite in the heavens rising up & reigning like a king!”
“Why don’t you do so this Sunday?” She’d asked.
“Overtime!” he’d said, “But maybe next Sunday or the holiday that comes after that!”
She wept as she felt the crisp paper. She wept as the kites spoke a dream of a dead man, who’d wanted the simple pleasure of flying them, up in the sky.
Her sons came home the next day. They saw the kites fixed on the sitting room wall, “Ma,” they protested, “This is not the time to celebrate, this is a time of mourning!”
“Yes,” she said, “I know it is, and that is why I’ve put them there!”
They felt the paper, they stared at the lovely designs & they listened to their mother as she told them where she’d found them. They had tears in their eyes, as they thought of their dad and the kites he’d never flown.
“Ma! I’d like to take one home!” Said her eldest.
“And I want one for my home too,” exclaimed the second.
She gave the kites to them, and her heart gladdened as they called her the next week, “We’re picking you up, Mother, we’re going to spend the weekend camping!”
“Camping?” She asked, “I’ve never camped before!”
“Nor have we, but that’s the kite we want to fly, Mother. Come along!”
She smiled as they drove down the mountain track, she looked at the car of her second son behind, & as she looked out of the window, she felt she could see her husband, laughing as he flew a kite, higher & higher into the wind, reigning like a king.
His sad kites in the cupboard had made his sons fly theirs.
What about you, my friend?
Are your kites going to be found in your cupboard, or do they fly in the sky?
*Go fly a kite!*
Follow your dreams!
Do what you like while you can.
It may be too late if you don’t.
Do not procrastinate.
*LET’S GO FLY A KITE*
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
— Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”
— Mother Teresa
PS. This is from my ‘scrapbook’, and I really do not know who the author is. But it is such a good reminder for us to do whatever makes us and others happy, while we still can.
Dear Charlotte, thank you most kindly for your appreciation and encouraging words, and also for mentioning ‘bucket lists’.
As a senior teenager, I realized that bucket lists are great to compose only to find that they decompose due to inaction; and that there is a hole in the bucket or the bucket handles fly off. Oh yes!
That is why we must do all the things that we put off for tomorrow, in our NOW.
Expressing gratitude, appreciation, forgiveness, building bridges, sharing hope and blessing in our NOW.
Oftentimes, all we need to succeed is one single wee little shift in our thinking and perception of others and the world around us to make a difference.
Honorable TIME is not guaranteed to us, and therefore to achieve our goals and dreams, it is important to take advantage of our now.
Seneca once said, “While wasting our time hesitating and procrastinating, life goes on”.
Whatever your goals and dreams may be, we cannot wait for the perfect moment.
“The longer you wait for the future, the shorter it will be.” – Loesje
“Your big opportunity may be right where you are now.” – Napolean Hill
Thank you once again – stay blessed.
This is a supercaligragilisticexpialidocious post, Jonathan, that I only discovered today.
Too many people wait until it is too late to get things off their bucket list. Our Mr. Banks might still be alive but might not have been able to run in the great outdoors. Or if his dream had been to hike the AT, it would easily become to late for any such endeavor – I am glad you made the son’s “kite” going camping.
Still, we may be so wedded to items on our bucket lists that we haven’t gotten around to doing that we ignore the beautiful moments in our every day lives that would have inspired joy and contentment.
Life is too short to spend on unimportant things or over-worrying.
Now you are whatever age you are, and finally know what you want and what you like.
Enjoy each moment NOW.
Spend the time with the people that you love and make memories.
Most importantly – stay blessed.