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- Story Listed as: True Life For Adults
- Theme: Family & Friends
- Subject: Family
- Published: 05/09/2016
Whistle
My granddaughter is, as you might well imagine, the most beautiful and well-behaved young girl in the universe and it's simply not true that she is spoilt by her grandparents. At four years old we were having one of our serious discussions and this was about whistling. I took it on myself to show her how to do it. To my considerable, growing concern I found that I could not whistle. Puckering up enough to scare a gorilla.
It was no use so I made some lame excuse like wanting the loo then on my return changed the subject as quietly as possible.
When later I tried to analyse why this had happened, why despite my brain telling my lips what to do nothing came out but a poor attempt of blowing out the candles. The awful truth slowly began to break the surface. It was like an enormous black nuclear submarine that had been hidden under the surface for years and now was coming into sight. The more it broke the surface the more frightening it became and the more difficult to ignore.
The truth was that I had not whistled freely for maybe twenty years. The ever escalating pressures and responsibilities at work had sucked away at the lighter side of my life and left little time for real fun. I knew from that moment that my enjoyment of life had primarily sunk and been replaced, unknowingly by a fear of failing to provide what was required by wife, employer, mortgage and living standards.
The real knacker's trap.
From that moment the aim of my work was to leave work. It took a long time and a lot of soul searching.
Sometimes I would be faced with hard inescapable facts that could not be altered. Then suddenly, out of the blue yonder, the opportunity was there! I took it. So suddenly I was free!
Then, again, there was another challenge, after all that time 'down the mine' the sunlight was blinding and it took, and is still taking time to adjust. Nightmares of projects not finished at work and waking up convinced that I am late for work are getting less. Occasionally there is a quite definite glimpse of optimism. Something that has not been seen for heaven knows when. The old dark thoughts frighten it away but it re-appears again - not to be denied.
Instead of high pressure project management I got a job driving a bread van.
Instead of teaching my granddaughter I now let her teach me.
"You've never been a father until you've been a grandfather."
Whistle.(Ossie Durrans)
Whistle
My granddaughter is, as you might well imagine, the most beautiful and well-behaved young girl in the universe and it's simply not true that she is spoilt by her grandparents. At four years old we were having one of our serious discussions and this was about whistling. I took it on myself to show her how to do it. To my considerable, growing concern I found that I could not whistle. Puckering up enough to scare a gorilla.
It was no use so I made some lame excuse like wanting the loo then on my return changed the subject as quietly as possible.
When later I tried to analyse why this had happened, why despite my brain telling my lips what to do nothing came out but a poor attempt of blowing out the candles. The awful truth slowly began to break the surface. It was like an enormous black nuclear submarine that had been hidden under the surface for years and now was coming into sight. The more it broke the surface the more frightening it became and the more difficult to ignore.
The truth was that I had not whistled freely for maybe twenty years. The ever escalating pressures and responsibilities at work had sucked away at the lighter side of my life and left little time for real fun. I knew from that moment that my enjoyment of life had primarily sunk and been replaced, unknowingly by a fear of failing to provide what was required by wife, employer, mortgage and living standards.
The real knacker's trap.
From that moment the aim of my work was to leave work. It took a long time and a lot of soul searching.
Sometimes I would be faced with hard inescapable facts that could not be altered. Then suddenly, out of the blue yonder, the opportunity was there! I took it. So suddenly I was free!
Then, again, there was another challenge, after all that time 'down the mine' the sunlight was blinding and it took, and is still taking time to adjust. Nightmares of projects not finished at work and waking up convinced that I am late for work are getting less. Occasionally there is a quite definite glimpse of optimism. Something that has not been seen for heaven knows when. The old dark thoughts frighten it away but it re-appears again - not to be denied.
Instead of high pressure project management I got a job driving a bread van.
Instead of teaching my granddaughter I now let her teach me.
"You've never been a father until you've been a grandfather."
Melody Kuku
11/04/2019It's a lovely story. Sometimes we get so busy 'trying' to live life but we end up forgetting how to enjoy life. Children are the best teachers of the simplicity of life. They live, they just live. Thought provoking!
ReplyHelp Us Understand What's Happening
Help Us Understand What's Happening
Ossie Durrans
11/04/2019Thank you so much for commenting Melody. I can see you know more than I did!
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