So Blessed

First Blessing

I feel very blessed this week. Some weeks back, I had put one of my enrichment centre students through an intensive motivation therapy involving both parents, the child and myself. The whole process took 3 FULL days stretching from 6.45 am to 10 pm. It was very tiring for all of us BUT it was worth it. 

On the 1st day, the parents noted the extent of my involvement and all the blood and sweat I was putting in. They pressed me gently to bill them for my time. Given the intensity of the therapy and the risks involved, I did not want to be distracted by money issues... and so, I KIV-ed the money issues to AFTER the therapy was over.

Once the results were felt, the parents pressed me again for an invoice. I had not intended to charge them, and it was difficult to give them the price. What if the Listed Price of this intervention seemed too expensive to them? It was a relatively expensive intervention because it required a lot of time, a lot of effort... and a lot of skill. I always like to know the cost of something BEFORE I agree to it. It did not feel right to charge after the job was done. Then people would be FORCED to pay my price. No one enjoys being forced into anything.

So... I decided to be clever. I requested the gift of a pot of fake bamboo, and then let the parents know that they could donate on my behalf any amount to a charity that I had picked.

Given that this was their only son and I had somehow turned the boy from a wastrel and potential delinquent to a very responsible and driven young man, the parents were very grateful. I guess I benefited from their largesse to the degree that they adored their son. They adored their son immensely. They agreed (somewhat amused and incredulous) immediately to my pot of bamboo, and also got in touch with the charity to donate an amount.

For some strange reason, this pot of bamboo means more to me than anything else I have received in years and years. Perhaps I had to work hard for it. Perhaps I had not expected any recompense and so when one was proffered, it warmed my heart. Perhaps I really really loved that pot of bamboo. It is no work of art but neither was the cowrie shell The Husband picked up on a beach in Hawaii for me. Perhaps I am thrilled to the core because of one simple sentence, "It took a lot of your effort and we do not wish to take you for granted."

Whatever it is, I feel very very blessed. Thank you Mommy and Daddy!

Isn't it the most lovely pot of bamboo? You can practically see it glow! I love it! And they didn't come with just ONE pot of bamboo. There were 4 other pots of lovely plants too!

Second Blessing

The Husband has never, in 2 decades of marriage gone near a mop. I didn't think he knew what a mop even looked like. He has never had to mop floors because Petunia does that. To be fair to him, I have horrendously high standards in floor mopping. There would never be a chance in a millennium that The Husband could ever mop the floor to my expectations.

But I have been ill and mopping requires so much effort now.

Starting last Friday, The Husband began to behave rather strangely. He was practically hopping from one foot to another as we made our way to the ginormous house in JB. I was dreading the weekend because I was expecting to have to mop the floors. I knew that The Husband had got in a team of cleaners to clean the house, but you know... for me, the floor has to be clean enough to eat off.

When I got there, I stepped onto the floors and marvelled at how clean they were. "What great cleaners!" I thought to myself.

Then I went into the garden and criticised the state of the plants... weeds here... overgrowth there... and the whole weekend, I was irked by the state of the garden... and I commented, and commented and commented. Then I walked into the kitchen area and I wasn't happy with all the dirty black rags hanging out to dry! Petunia's floor rags are bleached white after the floors are mopped. I would never hang out a blackish floor rag. I noted that the swimming pool was pristine but I said nothing.

The Husband began to seethe... and then he simmered... and then he boiled over like an angry stewpot. I had an earful about  me never being happy... never satisfied... so demanding... blah blah blah... and then he said, "I spent all Saturday last weekend crawling on my hands and knees to mop the whole house! I did not use a mop because I knew that it would not be clean enough for you! I used a rag and a pail and went over every inch of this house! I was so looking forward to you coming here and being happy and enjoying yourself. I want you to be happy! Can you not be happy?! Just say that you are happy! Is that too much to ask?!"

Oh my goodness me! I stared at him, unable to picture him on all fours, on the floor, like me through 2 decades of marriage.

The Husband had just given me a priceless gift and I was too stupid to understand that deep rich love he was trying to demonstrate. No wonder the fella doesn't want me to come back and visit him after I die! Gee... if I were he, I would not want me to come back and haunt me neither!! All of a sudden, I felt like rubbing my face in  those dirty blackish rags. And our garden... our messy garden is the best of all gardens!

The Husband has a high stress job. He works days and nights too. He really did not have to mop those floors for me but if he did, then it is a gift worth more than any diamond ring, bracelet, nose ring, nipple ring. I am so blessed!