Coffee With Chapter 40
If you were having coffee with me I would welcome you to my tangle of words on this auspicious occasion of the customary birthday post…
I figured, to mark this new chapter, let me give my site a simple makeover, which ended up being a far more complex process than I had set out to do and unfortunately there is no simple undo button, so I was forced to commit to a new theme. Its taken me awhile to get my site visitor ready, which is why the customary birthday post is making a fashionable appearance.
I understand why people are resistant to change… there is comfort in the familiar but growth happens outside that zone. What do you think of my new look? I wanted to keep a familiar feel, yet adopt a theme which supports features my old legacy theme did not. Oh, I also added a podcast page for those who keep asking for links to the audio version of my blog… Now that I gifted myself a lavalier microphone, I might even record readings of my older posts… I am officially in my podcaster era.😂
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that my birthday plan had been to take myself on movie date and watch the new Bob Marley: One Love movie, then maybe go out for celebratory dranks and have an unforgettable night I could never remember…. But life had other plans.
Woke up to an invitation to attend an SRHR Workshop on Safe Abortion which was tailored for the media… so yeah, could say I am a media personality. Personal feelings and opinions aside, we cant ignore unsafe abortions are happening… according to the WHO 25 million unsafe abortions occur worldwide of which the majority of these happen in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
A thought provoking session on identifying the various reasons people engage in sex stood out in pointing out how procreation was not the first reason put forward nor was it the only reason for having the sex… So given all that, religious, moral and legal values aside, maybe there shouldn’t be so much red tape to accessing safe abortion, for example, according to Zimbabwe’s constitution, an abortion can only be performed legally under 3 conditions; rape, incest and when the life of a baby threatens the life of the mother. Two doctors and a gynaecologist are required to sign off on this…
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that after a somber morning, I got an invitation from Samantha of Carnelian Heart Publishing for a birthday lunch where I got to chill with some literary gurus that included Memory Chirere and Vuso Mhlanga, who are as wise as they are humorous.
I picked an interesting fact on the intricacies of rain in the Shona culture… Rain is considered masculine and the earth feminine, so when it rains, its is a sensual affair between the earth and the rain… This is why rain making ceremonies have songs infused with sexual innuendos and at times are a blatantly explicit celebration of the consummation of their union… Suddenly innocent childhood songs don’t seem so innocent…
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that also got to learn a couple of keys on the mbira instrument and I can hold a semblance of a mbira tune courtesy of Gwenyambira Leo and Mhofu
I also had fan boy moment posed for a picture with one of my favourite songbirds Shingai Shoniwa best none for her with the English indie rock band Noisettes. Highlight of the evening was of course her recognising who I am since I have featured and reviewed her music. 😂
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that is not how I imagined my birthday would have gone, I had beautiful evening I would not change a single thing… even if I still havent gotten round to watching the Bob Marley movie but hey peace and love.
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that my social media was totally popping with wishes and for a day I felt like such a celebrity, ha! But I low key always feel that people should direct birthday wishes to our mothers, they are the ones who did most of the work… My first birthday wish was from my mum and of course it was as one can expect… Wife wanted.
I remember back in primary school my mum always made sure I took cake to school on my birthday… It was such fun, having the whole class sing for you, even though, at my big age, I still dont know what to with myself, when people are singing me happy birthday. Of course, when school was out you’d suddenly have loads of “friends” volunteering to walk you home and help carry the left overs.
A couple years back, I reconnected with a childhood friend thanks to the world wide web, while reminiscing about the good old days, I was pleasantly surprised to find that he still remembered the cakes I used to bring.. Of course he would, his house was along the way so we walked together on birthdays, regular days and the day my dad passed away.
My birthday carries a dark lining… my dad passed away a day after my 12th birthday, so my birthday is a bittersweet affair -more so as each passing year means I have spent more years without him… I wonder if he is proud of how we turned out?
I also cant help compare that when my dad was my age, he had a beautiful family, owned a house in the suburbs, two cars… and then there’s me, with the only valuable asset to my name, my laptop with its backlit keyboard.
Life begins at 40 they say… here’s to new adventures. Happy New Year🥳
~B
PS Time is construct, and your wishes not belated 😉
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