Lester and "The Chronicles of Narnia"

In my office again, waiting for my day to start. I have a full day of ballet rehearsals today! All day: starting at 09h30, finishing at 18h30! Now for those of you that know me, you know what my attention span is! All I can say is THANK YOU for facebook mobile and "The Chronicles of Narnia".

Yes, "Narnia". When we were kids living in Mitchell's Plain (I miss the Plain), my late brother Lester and I used to walk to the library in Lentegeur once a week to get new books. Lester was 4 years older than me, so whereas I got all my books from the Junior Library, he alternated between the two. When I was at Primary and he at Junior High School, our library got new copies of the "Narnia" books. I was a FAT boy growing up! When I matriculated, I weighed 128kgs!!!! So Lester and I used to race to the library to get the next book in the series. He always won! And....he would not allow me to read the book once he was done! NO! I had to go to the library with him, wait for him to return it, wait for the unfriendly librarian to put it back on the shelf, and take it out with my own card! I got the better of him ONCE though. While he was reading the second last book, I took out the last one in the series. So when he returned book no 6, I kept book no 7, and read the ending of the series first! I love you Lester, and I miss you....

Now I have been going through a rather difficult time emotionally recently, and I know that this is going to last for a while before it all gets resolved! I LOVE reading, but because of my HECTIC schedule, I've stopped reading almost completely. When things get tough, I usually grab a book for escape. Now a very dear friend gave me a copy of "Long Walk to Freedom" last year. I read and LOVED the book. I started reading it again (that's what I do), and the difficulties that Madiba went through did not make for happy reading this time!

Shortly after Lester died, I came across a beautifully bound (and very expensive) edition of "The Chronicles of Narnia". All I can say is Thank God for my gold card!!! I bought it, and stored it safely. Things are BAD right now. I cannot believe how much children's books can do for our spirits. I'm reading these stories (slowly this time), and I am reminded of a time when I saw ONLY beauty in the world! A time where I worshipped my parents: they were young and strong. A time where I had FOUR brothers - all of us living happily with my parents, Uncle Richard, Leslie, Grant, Urshula and Ryno (yes, 12 of us) in our 3 bedroomed home! I had my own bedroom, by the way!!! HAPPY TIMES!

So my advice for today: When life gets you down and you feel like there's no escape, forget that you are a grown up with responsibility for a moment, grab yourself a MAGICAL children's story and read..... A temporary escape, yes, but an escape just the same.......