Wednesday, 4 January 2017

honouring the ordinary


MasterM (right) and friend, somewhere in Mozambique

I urge you to read this post on Absence in Women's Lifewriting because it is relevant to us all as bloggers. In the post Jennifer Sinor describes reading a journal that had been passed down in her family from her great great great aunt who lived in Dakota in the 1880s, a record of everyday life as a homesteader's wife. What fascinated me was not the content of the journal but Sinor's response as she searched through the minutiae of baking, sewing and visiting for the extraordinary only to discover that it had been omitted. Frustrated, she used her research skills to find out more information about her distant relative, looking for a narrative to her life, until she had a revelation that the real value of the journal is in the detail that she has skimmed through. Extraordinary events may determine the direction of our lives but it is by recording the details, that 'multitude of small delights', that we honour our days. 

I think all bloggers forget that each of us has different types of ordinary and that is what makes blogs so readable. You might feel anxious about writing about your reading or your gardening or your knitting but it is this sharing of our domestic lives that I value as a reader of blogs. So I challenge you: write on, honour your ordinary days!

My ordinary life today includes collecting MasterM from the airport and I must dash now because he is enroute from a remote area of Mozambique via Maputo, Johannesburg, Abu Dhabi and Rome. His last messsage from Rome airport was a cri de coeur "See you soon. Bring Chocolate!!" Same old MasterM. 
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10 comments:

  1. Anonymous5 January 2017 at 12:50

    I enjoyed your post, and I'm glad you're back. I agree with the idea of the magnificence of small delights, but sometimes it can be challenging to capture them in a satisfying way. Thanks for the encouragement today.

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    1. alice c5 January 2017 at 21:17

      I used to read a blog called Three Beautiful Things which was a daily list of three unconnected things which gave joy. It was an exercise in being mindful but it was beautifully written and added up to a moving journal of a young woman making the transition to motherhood.

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  2. driftwood5 January 2017 at 13:21

    what kind of chocolate?

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    1. alice c5 January 2017 at 21:07

      My emergency bar of Cadburys Dairy Milk which I keep in the First Aid box.

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  3. Anne5 January 2017 at 16:50

    And how much chocolate?

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    1. alice c5 January 2017 at 21:08

      200g or four mouthfuls if you are starving.

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  4. Anonymous5 January 2017 at 18:45

    Your baby boy needing chocolate, what fun.

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    1. alice c5 January 2017 at 21:09

      I don't understand why he couldn't buy one of those huge Toblerone bars in one of the six airports he passed through.

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    2. Anonymous17 January 2017 at 22:34

      Ah, he could, but chocolate that your mother brings tastes better. A small delight. Just as being asked to bring chocolate is.

      So good to see you back here! I only just found out!

      xx Andrea

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  5. Gina6 January 2017 at 09:24

    It is indeed the multitude of small things that bring joy. Lovely to see you back Alice. Happy New Year to you and yours x

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Thank you! I love reading your comments and even though I don't always have time to reply I am really grateful to every one who joins in the conversation.

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