Hit the streets for your daily walk after 4.30pm and you’re bound to bump into half the neighbourhood. In order not to literally bump into anyone and keep the recommended safe social distance, what you’ll find is a whole lot of zigzagging. You see someone coming your way so you duck over to the other side of the street and once the coast is clear, you head back to the path where you were before. The thing is, you’re not the only one, everyone else is taking the same precaution. If a drone were hovering overhead, mapping out the paths we take, it would be a maze of almost crossed paths – a plethora of zigzags. I guess it’s proof that we’re all trying to do the right thing.
Anniversary #1
22 years ago, on the Friday before Mothers Day, I got word that my mother had passed away – suddenly. I remember that time well and the added sadness of it happening just two days before that special Sunday. On Saturday, driving back to my hometown, I found my foot involuntarily retreating from the accelerator as though it wanted to spare me from facing the undeniable evidence of the awful reality.
It’s taken 22 years, but the calendar for 2020 is back to that same configuration of 1998. Friday 8th May, the anniversary of Mum’s death, was two days before Mothers Day. How I wish she was still here to see all her great-grandchildren – she would love them! There was only one when she died – Max, just 10 months old.
Anniversary #2
Back in 1971 there were three terms per year and school holidays were in May and August. I met my wife for the first time on the first Monday after the May vacation that year. With the help of Google I figured that it was the tenth of May. So on that day 49 years ago I met the woman I would marry. Earlier I had spoken to her on the phone as I was looking for accommodation and she had suggested an old farm cottage on the outskirts of the town. After the call I remarked to my siblings, “The secretary sounds nice.” I was wrong about that, like me she was a teacher and had only answered because her class was close to the unattended admin office. Soon, my matchmaking students were suggesting, “Mister Byrne, why don’t you marry Miss Penman?” and hers were doing vice versa. They noticed the chemistry and electricity between us long before I did. How perceptive those little kids were and how glad I still am for their proposal!
In My Life 
May 12, 2020 at 10:35 am |
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