Wake up call
After a stressful day at a client's site, I got home feeling dog-gone tired. I went to check on my Mum and got a heart-stopper. After I left for work in the morning, my brother found her struggling to breath. He called Dad who got a heart specialist hospital name and address in Nigeria and sent it to my brother. He rushed her there and after several checks, the verdict was: she's overworked, overstressed, and in need of rest. Her flunctuating high blood pressure, low resistance to illnesses and skipping heartbeat will get worse if we don't act fast. She needs to reduce her workload drastically. She needs to rest more. She needs to stop worrying about things. She needs to change her diet totally.
It was a wake up call for me. All the time that she was being prodded with needles and xrayed I was thinking only of work. Even as I entered the house that was what was on my mind. To be honest, if she hadn't chided me that I didn't ask how her day was, I probably wouldn't have asked since the question always got me more than a quarter of an hour wasted to gist. I'm glad I did. My brother and I put her on house arrest till further notice. My Dad is beside himself and calls within the hour-he's said he'll pay the driver's balance if the one she wants to employ is asking for more than she can afford. I have decreed that she draft her resignation letter from one of the three jobs she works at. Life is precious. She's laboured for so much of her life, its not now that she should be reaping the harvest that she should go. No way. If she proves stubborn we'll seize her phones, then limit access to her from every angle. I love her so much but I must tell you - its going to be a very conscious decision and action to start showing it. I have to stop focusing 180% of my attention on work and start focusing on family and social life. Its getting gradually pathetic- I had to start scrolling through my phone book before I could dig up possible candidates for my wedding train. It seems I've drifted so far away from the real world that I've left my friends behind. And I was so tied up I didn't see the signs that my mother's health was deteriorating. God help me to LIVE!
It was a wake up call for me. All the time that she was being prodded with needles and xrayed I was thinking only of work. Even as I entered the house that was what was on my mind. To be honest, if she hadn't chided me that I didn't ask how her day was, I probably wouldn't have asked since the question always got me more than a quarter of an hour wasted to gist. I'm glad I did. My brother and I put her on house arrest till further notice. My Dad is beside himself and calls within the hour-he's said he'll pay the driver's balance if the one she wants to employ is asking for more than she can afford. I have decreed that she draft her resignation letter from one of the three jobs she works at. Life is precious. She's laboured for so much of her life, its not now that she should be reaping the harvest that she should go. No way. If she proves stubborn we'll seize her phones, then limit access to her from every angle. I love her so much but I must tell you - its going to be a very conscious decision and action to start showing it. I have to stop focusing 180% of my attention on work and start focusing on family and social life. Its getting gradually pathetic- I had to start scrolling through my phone book before I could dig up possible candidates for my wedding train. It seems I've drifted so far away from the real world that I've left my friends behind. And I was so tied up I didn't see the signs that my mother's health was deteriorating. God help me to LIVE!
Comments
May it be said about me that "Ayomipo nourished his mother" as was said about Joseph.
And you too.