ONE SUNDAY MORNING

Hello Hi,

It's been an absolute pleasure writing and knowing that people read, so thank you again and for those of you that laughed at my fall and boots, enjoy (lol). Last week, I said I was going to tell you why I have a different feeling about the snow now. Well, here it is below. I hope you a meaning in it too. Enjoy my dear friends, please share and leave your comments below, you can also click on the 'google' icon to recommend as well as follow me on twitter @vivio_gogo for regular updates -

It was another Sunday morning; the snowfall was so heavy that I had to struggle to make my way to the church and so, I arrived late. After the Mass, I headed for the usual morning coffee and tea that the church provided at the adjacent hall. Close to the entrance, I saw an old lady trying to open the door to get into the hall building. I quickly recognized her because of her large hat, which she  usually wore, as the woman who turned 78 years old last Sunday; we had sung a “happy birthday” song to her during the tea/coffee time last week. So I ran up to her and held open the door for her to go in. She smiled as she thanked me, showing her dark gum and a few gaps as a result of missing teeth. Although her dentition was not perfect, there was something refreshing about the way she smiled. Her smile was warm and had a way of insinuating that she must have immensely enjoyed her youth, just as she was enjoying her 70’s now. We began to chat, grumbling about how terrible the weather had been for the past few days and how much we longed for sunlight. She told me that she had been indoors the whole week and complained about how the snow had restricted her from doing her regular exercise; she had to avoid the risk of slipping on the snow, she said.  I readily agreed with her, recounting to her also of how I had barely left my house that week except for compulsory classes. She looked astonished and asked me why I had decided to stay at home almost all week. I was perplexed by her question, given that we stayed in the same town, which had the same bad weather, that same week. After a few moments of blinking, I responded, “But I can fall when walking on the snow too.” “In fact I have fallen once”, I added, remembering ‘my first snowy experience’ (or ‘the snowy walk of shame’, as one of my friends referred to it last week). At that point she shook her head, making me even more confused, before she went on to say “You see my child, I am old now and so if I fall, I could break my hip which may not heal but you….you are still very young. If you fall, nothing stops you from rising. So do not be afraid to fall now because you have a long time ahead of you. Walk freely to wherever you want to go to now and each time you fall, get up, smile and continue walking because when you get to my age, you can no longer take such risks”.  She ended with a loud laughter. I smiled back in response, nodding throughout as if I understood her completely. When we got to the hall, we said our goodbyes and went to sit at our separate tables with our different groups of friends.

Somehow, what she had said to me remained on my mind for the rest of the day. Her words cut through me; for me, they had a deeper meaning than just slipping on the snow. They had become my own Sunday lesson, giving me a new sense of encouragement and perspective towards life, especially as I was going through a difficult period at that point in my life. Since then, I have carried those words in my heart dearly, determined to try even harder every time I thought I had failed in a quest; as such, pursuing and achieving my dreams. As for the lady, I have not seen her in a while but whenever I see her, I hope to give her a card I have kept for her which says:

Thank you, Madam Rose. I believe I am where I am today because I stopped being afraid to fall.

It was because of her words that I took the chance to go skiing with a friend two weeks ago (which I sucked at by the way). And although I know that I will never really love the snow, at least I know that every time I may slip (not too hard though), I will stand up even stronger by God’s grace.

Have a blessed week :)