Sunday, January 12, 2014

Questions worth pondering/ words to live by

 

No seriously, do. No one knows tomorrow.
The last few months have had some shocking high profile accidents and deaths like the terrible accident that killed Paul walker and his friend and the accident of Michael Schumacher. These incidents show us that death is no repecter of persons, it might be anyone's turn tomorrow.
A lot of young people are dying, since I'm Nigerian I'm quite aware of deaths of Nigerians, with the advent of Facebook, it's easy to see it is really about 3 degrees of separation in many cases. The death of a certain young man that I don't know, but who went to uni with my bro and knows a few people that I know is what has spawned this post.
Money, fame and love do not protect one from the inevitable end of all mankind. So may we number our days as is written in the bible in the book of Psalms 90:12

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
These are some of the questions I have been asking myself and you should consider asking yourself too if you haven't
1) what footprints will I leave in the sands of time?
2) if today were my last day on earth am I ready to go?
3) do I have my priorities right especially with respect to work life balance? Remember, an employee can easily be replaced in most cases, but never a parent and only with difficulty a child, wife/ husband or friend.
4) am I in Gods will for my life?
5) am I taking care of myself like I should be ( adequate sleep, destressing, proper nutrition etc)?
May the souls of the departed rest in peace and may God grant comfort to the loved ones left behind.

Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Good daddies rock!

I came across the Daddy Doing Work blog via a post on the Good Men project Facebook page. Apparently, the photo below went viral.





I follow lots of mothering blogs and pages, but this is the first time I have been made aware of the also large ( it seems) community of daddy bloggers out there. It's awesome that there are men out there who are comfortable enough with their masculinity to be hands on dads. I think most men find it fulfilling, and more would find it fulfilling, once they break out of the boxes that society has pleased parenting into.

I'm glad when I see young Nigerian men stepping up to be the daddies they should be. My father was distant in some ways, but I remember him bathing us to get us ready for school in the early years and playing monopoly with us. In his sixties now, he still gets down on my kids level to play with them whenever he is around them.We definitely had a close relationship with him, perhaps closer arguably than the average Nigerian kid had with their dad ( he has gotten more traditional Yoruba as the years have gone on though, but that's a whole different story for another day).

I was facetiming with a younger male friend yesterday and while we were talking, DH was on the floor playing with my son. My friend said wistfully, I don't have any memories of my father playing with me like that. He will become a father soon, and I wish him from the depth of my heart all the best in fatherhood and that he breaks the cycle of passive fatherhood.

If you had/ have an awesome dad or if your DH/ partner is an awesome father to your kids, I would love to hear your story, so please leave a comment. Don't be shy, the cobwebs have come off this blog for good. Lol. Have a great week ahead.
BLOG WATCH!!!! Don't forget to give credit if you borrow anything from this blog.