29/07/2026
When we got home, the younger daughter asked if we could lay on our garden daybeds for a while.
My first instinct was to protest, because both she and I had much work to rush. All I wanted to do was to hurry her into the house, rush her through her dinner, nag her into the bathroom, and then see her settle into her never ending pile of homework and revision to-do’s.
But as I was about to rush into the house as usual, I turned back and saw her tired figure, and I said yes let’s just lay there and chill under the stars for a while. We sat in silence and enjoyed the cool night air.
I said how nice it is to do this and she agreed. Both of us have really packed schedules daily. Her schedule is packed because of her dance trainings, tuitions, and multiple hats as class monitress and prefect, and church ministry, all of which she refused to give up. I am not much better as a turbo-active realtor, team leader and a full-time mum. This moment of doing nothing is, sadly, rare.
Rare, but how important it is for our souls and well-being. As she sat up, she saw the full moon and exclaimed at how beautiful it was. She stood up and snapped this photo. At that moment, I was so glad that I paused and did not hurry the night.
For in the words of William Henry Davies, what is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare. A poem I studied and loved when I was 17, but forgotten until this night when my teenager reminded me so.