From his mother's memories

"Sam, I've just gone through the old wardrobe," the aging mother told her youngest son. "Look what I found!" The beautiful lady held out a white baby suit that seemed very well preserved. "It used to be yours," she told him with a big smile and two bright shining eyes. "29 years ago." The son looked at the little white baby suit in wonder. Had he really been so small that he could wear anything so tiny, so delicate? Holding the little piece of textile that was part of his mother's memories, not his, he said to himself: "This little suit some day will be the legacy of my unborn son, Adam."

Merry Christmas

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

~John Lennon & Yoko Ono

Childish excitement

When I woke up this morning at 8 o'clock, I noticed something I haven't seen in ever so long. Snow falling. Snow falling silently. Snow covering everything outside my window. Watching it made me feel energized, so energized that I couldn't go back to sleep. For the first time this year I've felt some kind of Christmas sensation. The idea of Christmas for people up here north will in most cases be closely related to snow. I must have spent at least one hour watching the snow falling. When the sun rose, it was still snowing. Then I started baking cookies. Oatmeal cookies and ginger cookies. Maybe you can imagine how nice that made my kitchen smell? I put on Christmas carols on the stereo and tuned into Christmas mode.

Pure delight

Sleeping in late.

Having breakfast and a glass of mulled claret in bed.

Watching a cartoon in pyjamas.

The awareness of not having a single commitment the whole day.

Pure feeling of relaxation and well-being.

⇒ Christmas vacations, I welcome you!

The science of Mathematics or Being an overenthusiastic exam candidate

Willow had a 6 hours literature exam. Coming to school, she was almost excited. Not just because the Christmas vacations were only 6 hours away, but also because she would be able to write several pages about her favourite topic, literature. Getting the exam questions, Willow smiled to herself - she knew she would be able to give good answers to all 4 questions. She actually enjoyed working with the task, and completed the 4 questions in only 4 hours.

When she was about to hand in the exam, she looked a bit closer on the exam text. It said: "Please choose two of the questions below to answer." Acknowledging her slight error, she couldn't help but break out in giggles. Then she chose to hand in the answers to the two questions she thought she had done best, and took the papers with the remaining two questions home.

Note to self: Read and RE-READ the exam text before starting up your creative solution mode next time - no matter how interesting and fun the questions may seem.

At the Beauty Parlour

I got up early this morning to make myself pretty. I took a long, steaming hot shower, removing excess body hair and scrubbing away dead skin cells. My shampoo has a rich scent that stays in my hair. Having dried my body with a large white towel, I put on sexy lingerie. Then I started putting on body lotion to make my skin smooth. Teeth were cleaned. Nails must not be forgotten either - cut, filed and polished. I blew my hair dry so that it would stay in perfect shape, combing it to make it look shining. In my wardrobe I found a brown, simple top that looks good on me and a matching pair of pants. No mascara, no lipstick, no rouge. I'm opting for natural beauty. Then I put on my watch, my ring, my necklace (which has a sun amulet) and my favourite perfume. Finally I put on my smile.

And all this for a digitally transmitted date with Tito in Titonia. Will my efforts be sufficient for him to call me beautiful?

An unnecessary casualty

Life in the jungle is hard. Feed is not always abundant and the animals live in a constant stress-state between getting their own feed and becoming someone else's feed. The yellow snake has not had feed in a week and it's a common fact that hungry snakes are highly dangerous. The yellow snake has become aware that there are intruders in the jungle. They are humans on expedition. The yellow snake starts its slow, controlled descend from its place in the tree. Its forked tongue is making a whizzing sound. The humans don't spot it until they are literally standing face to face with it. They freeze. The yellow snake makes more hisses. The humans don't know what to do, sweat breaking on their foreheads. There are no doctors in miles and miles. They carry no antidote with them.

The yellow snake keeps coming closer. Then it slips into one of the expedition satchels, containing apples and other fruits. The humans cannot believe their luck - the yellow snake has made itself an easy prey. The humans kill it with ease, along with their fear. What they don't know, is that the yellow snake was a non-venomous vegetarian.

Calligraphy

"When God made the first clay model of a human being, he painted the eyes, the lips, and the sex.

And then He painted in each person's name lest the person should ever forget it.

If God approved of His creation, he breathed the painted clay-model into life by signing His own name."

From The Pillow Book

[Untitled]

Once I entered a small chapel. It had two wooden benches, an altar and a large wooden cross. The cross consisted of three parts that were held together on top. On each part one could read names. Hundred of names. Maybe a thousand. I lit a candle in silence. This chapel was situated in a Catholic hospice run by volunteers. Its residents were AIDS victims having reached terminal stage. I was introduced to one of the residents. He used to be a big, handsome, black man. When I met him, he looked like a skeleton, and his beautiful colour black had turned to grey. Sadly I have to presume that his name will be on that wooden cross now.

Today, on the world AIDS day, my thoughts go to the man I met three years ago in the hospice and to all who are affected by this disease.