“Thank you for finding me,” says my wife. Finding me… because? Because she was from a world away? Because we were lost? Because we nearly missed each other? But the truth: I didn’t do anything. My involvement in our meeting was minimal. No, as the years have passed by, with all that I have seen, …
I didn’t see the years tumbling by. There we were, 17 years ago, reeling from the trauma of childlessness. Then those two souls fell into our lives, and a decade and a half flew by. Suddenly, I glance in the mirror and find grey in my beard. One minute I was thirty, and then…
No privacy, no understanding, no empathy. Life with teenagers at home.
I’m so grateful that God sends me people in need. It’s the only thing that gives me hope I might be redeemed. But are these tiny deeds enough to counter my ills? Alas, God alone knows that.
A ban on marriages to first cousins? A good idea, I’d say. But then I’m biased, belonging to a transnational family. My English grandfather married an Irish girl. Their middle daughter married an Indian man. And each of their three three grandsons took their pick from a different continent. Best cast your net wide, I …
There’s not that much difference between our lad and how I was at his age. Sure, I wasn’t a teenage tearaway, but I was still completely disengaged at school. Indeed, my parents faced a school parent’s evening much like I did last night, with all my teachers telling them I was destined to flunk everything, …
“Look after your heart,” my wife tells me. “I need you.” In this case, she’s talking about my physical heart. She can tell I’m stressed, dealing with another of those days. Every phone call now delivers bad news. Even before looking, I know it’s the school. One after the other, it only seems to get …
Oh, how we cannot wait for parents evening, during which it will be reaffirmed that we are the worst parents in the world.
I am afraid to say — though he is friendly man, at last fluent in English — that our young imam lacks the capability to guide his congregation. Not because he is not steeped in religious knowledge. Without a doubt, he has learned well and brings much to the youngsters he teaches. But he is …
Change has to come from within. My epiphany came quite late, at the end of my first year at university, aged 21. That was at the end of an academic year spent in the company of an alcoholic, a decade older than me. We’d had some good times, it’s true, but we had some very …
I suppose every generation is destined to learn the hard way about bad company.
Phew, just as anticipated, the Incredible Hulk has been disarmed with pizza. The comedian returns.
Friday night, and the youngun is comprising his role as tough man, squaring up to us as if we’re his opponents on the street. He’s learned to swell up his chest, looking down on us as he shoots past, dishing out threats. He’s giving us an ultimatum. We just laugh back, and carry on preparing …
One benefit of raising teenagers is that it throws perspective on our own youth. It reassures us that we weren’t unique in being complete jerks. No, it seems to come with the territory.
Ah, the kids have diagnosed me: the reason for the sickness that has consumed me since my return from Bath on Sunday afternoon. “It’s because you never go out,” they tell me, “so your immune system can’t cope with mixing with people suddenly.” Could be. Or it could be just poor decisions consuming too much …
