If you could change back the hands of time what would you do differently?
Good morning my dear readers, hope we all slept well. A happy new month to you all and may this new month bring good things to us. So let's get down to the title of the day.
The above question was asked to an old lady on a video I watched yesterday on my sister's Facebook story. Guess what she said. She said she would have spent more time with her kids. Now they're grown and have their kids which she's currently spending more time with, she wished she had done that with her kids. I guess she just realized how much she had missed not spending enough time with her children, not like she never did. She was never aware of her absence in the life of her children. Not like she was totally absent though but in my own opinion, spending more time with her grandkids made her realize she didn't spend as much as that with her kids and that was why she wished she could turn back the hands of time to do it better.
Many times we get busy and distracted dealing with life that we forget what's important which is spending time with our family and friends. About the old lady, I guess as a mom she worked too hard, trying to provide for the kids, give them shelter, food and attend to their basic needs. Most times we forget that all those things are not all that matters. Sometimes children could need your attention, words of advice, and not just money or other materialistic things you provide them with. Most times they want to feel close to you, they want to talk so you could listen, they want to play with you, have a heart-to-heart discussion with you and that would happen if only as a parent you make yourself available.
I remembered last year during the pandemic how everything was on halt. I felt my life was stagnant, nothing was moving. Business, school, money, everything just wasn’t going as planned. I became more sensitive and emotional. I flared up at every little thing. I wanted so much attention and encouragement from my parents because I was almost losing my mind. I wanted to feel closer to them enough to open up and tell them what I was passing through at that moment. I was really glad that they gave me what I wanted and everything became normal again.
If I was asked about what I would love to do differently if the hands of time were changed, firstly; that would be to spend more time with my grandfather. He was a strong man. He was once a commissioner of police. He traveled a lot. When I became very much aware of my grandfather from my paternal side was when I was in secondary school. The few moments we shared when my family traveled to the village one certain Christmas before he passed away were the best moment of my life. Though it was short, I enjoyed the little attention he gave to me and my siblings. He was very old and his sight wasn’t good enough. We played a game he hosted among his grandkids and the other children in the compound. He wanted us to run and the winner will be rewarded with money to buy some biscuits. After the game, I began to gist him about my new school. I had just finished my primary education and was admitted into secondary school newly. So the whole secondary school was new to me. There was a lot to talk about ranging from how some stubborn female students dressed to school, which was against the school rules and regulations, how some students get their bushy hair cut with scissors as a form of punishment for not visiting the barbing saloon during the weekend for a nice hair cut, how some seniors were wicked to some students, how the senior secondary classes were filled with big men and women and so much more. It's so sad that this was the only memory of him I have and he wasn't much around for us to continue getting along.
I once had a friend to who I was close. I call him my friend because he is a good person and has helped me in different ways. I lost him some time ago to a ghastly motor accident during one of the Christmas seasons. I wish I knew what was going to happen, I should have made that call. It was just a phone call I wanted to place across to know how he was faring and celebrating his Christmas season but I got so busy that period that I forgot. Several times he came to my city to see his sister, he always place a call across inviting me to the mall or cinema to watch movies but I always didn't get the chance to hang out with him. Sometimes it was because of laziness or me being too busy at home. Now each time I return home and I'm bored I begin to wish I could get that call from him inviting me for a hangout. Indeed life is short and no one knows what's going to happen next. So if I had the power to change anything, that would be to bring back those moments, accept those invites, made out time to make a call. Too sad I never saw it coming.
Another thing I would love to go back in time to change is to do things differently to sustain my friendship. I’ve had friendships and bonds that have broken because of how I addressed certain issues. If I had just paused and thought for a second about the implications of what I could say or how I could say it would affect the friendship I could have done it differently. Just maybe, by that way, the friendship would still be on. Sometimes I wish I had just peacefully handled certain things that came up between a few of my friends. Although even when you peacefully handle your issues with your friends, there is still a tendency that that friendship would still be over. So sometimes it doesn’t matter if you addressed your issues peacefully or not, if a friendship is meant to end it would end, if it’s meant to last, it would last, despite the arguments or fights that may come up at any given time. That's one thing I believe.
What would you change or do differently if you can go back in time? I would love to hear yours.
Thank you for reading till the end
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