Saturday, March 12, 2011

"Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one."

Today I turned 12 (margin of error=plus/minus a couple o' decades or so).

Of course the flesh is seriously disputing this. My feeling a piratey 12 that is (Flesh: Nyambura, you seriously don't expect me to do the splits without pulling something do you?!! Me: We can improvise. Where's your imagination?)
. But flesh & moi are going to have a talk about that later...
I've come to view happiness as fleeting; a series of beautiful moments interwoven with the mundane and the suckage. So I do not chase rainbows much less make plans on what to do with the pot of gold. But I always try to savor those beautiful moments.
Today, was one of those moments. My friends threw me a surprise birthday BBQ that left me touched and stunned. 90% of my friends are football nuts. There was an Arsenal-Man Utd game on this evening, which meant mandatory viewing. And yet here were the fans of both teams, toasting to my growing wrinkly and toothless. So were the haters (read: Liverpool, Chelsea fans) who stood to gloat or groan in their rivals' faces should either team win or lose. How my gal F, (chief party instigator & die hard Arsenal fan) pulled it off is still a mystery to me.
Watching this awesome gathering of family and friends made me reflect on the many years these guys have been in my life. How much 'growing up' we've done together; through periods of utter brokeness, heartbreaks, we're-feeling-rich-let's-splurge moments and passionate Superman vs. Batman debates (btw, Batman is cooler but Gambit rocks!). I thought of those I used to call friends once upon a time but as time passed by, we drifted or out grew each other. Now I'm just a casual acquaintance on face book with a few while the rest simply fell off the grid. And of a time when this gathering would have been a fantasy. This was the time I went through the angst-y phase in high school; in forms three & four to be precise. Not a fun phase, beautiful people. It is A LOT of work and saps your positive vibe faster than a dementor on the war path, plus people tend to avoid you because they fear you will just bring them down...

It bothers me how easy it is to get distracted by the everyday...the pursuit of the good life...the quest to realize our dreams. Sometimes we'll even give in & stick to wallowing when the not-quite and the not-yet make up a huge chunk of our lives. And before you know it, the magic of family and friends; the magic that lights us up from the inside, gets a little dimmer and starts to flicker. We get too busy to pause and revel in the tender, fun, even silly moments peppered lovingly in our lives. After all, such 'mushy' stuff seems trivial doesn't it? It won't pay the bills or buy us that dream house. We take these moments for granted assuming they will always be there...till the day we wake up one morning and find them gone. Life happened...
So I pray for good health, some more growing up with the merry bunch and the prudence to appreciate how they always leave me all grins.


Mob wendos,


Nyambura

16 comments:

  1. Happy belated 12th birthday. We had missed reading you. Very well said... how we are all constantly chasing "the big stuff" and we miss out on the moosh the world has to offer. Glad you had a blast. xoxo!

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  2. I wish I caught the post on the day - who know what I'd have pulled off in the party? but here's to your good health. The best.

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  3. Margin? The word would be.....
    Here's to another year.

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  4. next time i better be invited or i swear, well u dont want to know the kind of oulawness i can pull when agitated.

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  5. beautifully put dear, now time to put this wonderful talent to good use. Seriously dear, this is fresh & original as opposed to what we read in journals, papers et all (Sweets).

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  6. First Happy belated birthday!! You are as old as you think you are so ignore 'flesh' and go with the spirit! It is a blessing when after so many years you can find that one or two friends who have seen it all from childhood. We nowadays make friends and dump them as easily as we change jobs, pubs, residence, towns....but to find some that move with you through all these...count yourself blessed!

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  7. Happy belated birthday and I actually got to know what ass is pronounced in kyuk!!! Lmao. The friends we outgrow aren't friends they are just acquaintances for a true friend no matter how long you have been apart there will be that binding that keeps you connected, it just like a phone which loses network when you are in a cave but once you resurface everything gets back to normal :-) be good and I will be looking forward to your next birthday, Thirteen turning Thirty!!! hehehehe

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  8. Hey beautiful people, Many thanks for the B-day wishes. Hope I'll get to enjoy many more fun writing sessions with you so please don't stop blogging...

    @ Shekyn, i love 'moosh'. That's a word i could savor nicely as i eat it up with a big spoon ;-)

    @ Cold Turkey, after that wedding march stunt you pulled, I have a feeling whatever you'd pull would have me chuckling for years to come :-)

    @ Pitz Evans: I Like outlaws. Life's never boring with you guys around :-)

    @ Ben: Here's to another year, Sir.

    @ Anon, Thanks for your kind words. I'm taking your advice to heart

    @ Otieno: Yep, and it's just sad no? We forget that the world can be a much more awesome place if we only took the time to step back and get to know & tolerate people around us.

    @ Mackel 9: totally agree with you...you can drop off the face of the earth & when you come back it's like you never left... Turning 13 plus/minus a couple of decades ;-) Amen to that

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  9. Happy belated birthday.

    I'm waiting for the cake!

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  10. happy birthday, this reminds me of that saying that goes something like "life is what happens when you are busy waiting for the big things to happen". little pleasures are not so little

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  11. you like 12. 12 things about you, born on 12th and now turning 12...mmmh

    Hope you had a fab day!

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  12. I missed a birthday? Of a sweet 12 year old no less? Shame.

    Happy belated. I shall have left over cake.

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  13. @ Aloofar: Check with the express Delivery guys on your end. I sent you a huuuge piece :-)

    @ WWF: Beautifully put

    @ Dark angel: Interesting. It has never occurred to me I'm crushing on 12 no?

    @ Shiko: Thanks. Here's a piece for the lovely lady.

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  14. @Nyambura

    Little miss 12 does need a rest. 21 is still a good age to be :)

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  15. @ Nate's girl: Hence the margin of error; to be applied when need be...

    Now that i think about it, age 12 is not so bad. Think about it; you are not a baby or an angsty teen or 100 % adult (hence you haven't lost your sense of wonderment). Plus, lots of stuff is still illegal. i.e. alcohol. Remember how much fun it was sneaking in sips of the potent stuff?

    So don't knock on 12 dear ;-)

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  16. My first time here, nice reflective post.

    Some of the things you have touched on: friends, happiness, growth, and dreams are the very stuff that makes us tick.

    All this reminded me of our continuous search for happiness, satisfaction and fulfillment.
    Cheers Nyambura!
    :)

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