"Keep your face to the sunshine
and you cannot see the shadow.
It's what sunflowers do."
Helen Keller
When my lovely caring daughter and her husband offered to look after Ouma for a weekend so that we could have break I was hesitant. How could I let her go through this? Would they cope? Wouldn’t it make them very sad?
“Caregivers need care too, so I order you to go away for the weekend.” Urges the Hospice sister sternly. I have neither the time nor the energy for that. Juggling MIL’s care, my own mother’s troubles, a job (half done by the way, thank goodness I work for Hubby!) our children, the family, trying to have a happy relationship and a nice garden is about all I can handle. So tell me who has time for relaxation?
Our club had an inauguration rally coming up so I decided to take up the offer and on Friday I once again got to don my leathers and ride on “Blueboy” our BMW. Vrrrroooommmmmm!!
As we rode along I looked up and there in the veld stood a tall, lone sunflower looking up at the sky and glorifying God. I gazed at that image of immortal beauty that even the scorching heat could not destroy, and at that very moment I began to cry. Tears flowed slowly at first and then I started sobbing wildly and uncontrollably. I don’t know why that sunflower made me cry but it did, and I couldn’t stop the stream of tears. My sobbing seemed to echo inside my helmet and this simply made me sadder and I sobbed louder until I was a blubbering sad idiotic looking biker.
Taking off the helmet leaves your hair sticking out in every direction, this we call “Helmet hair” or alternately “Hair by BMW or Kawasaki etc”. But what term would one use, I wonder, for crying inside your helmet? “Helmet howling?”
Be that as it may, after being comforted by all my understanding friends I ended up laughing and bawling simultaneously, what an idiot! Rinkhals took me by the hand and looking up at the cloud she told me, “Sien jy daardie wolk met die silver omlyning? Dit is ñ bewys van God dat ons nie hopeloos moet voel nie en dat dinge altyd sal regkom.”
“That silver lining at the edges of the every cloud is there to remind us that we should never feel hopeless because hard times always lead to better days.”
I wonder what the world would be like if we didn’t have such good friends whose shoulders we could cry on, and who see an ornamental sunflower and buy it for you?
In South Africa today security plays a vital part in any business or private home. This book and the volumes to follow, will guide you step by step through the essential precautionary measures to be taken in protecting your family and valuables. From employing security guards, evacuation of your site and security measures to burglar bars and alarms in your private home.
a Book compiled by me from experience gained after 10 years in the security industry as Industrial relations officer with Nosa qualifications, 1st Aid, fire protection and also S.O.B. grade A.
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