Advent Season with an African Twist

One year she brought home a calendar that looked and felt different from the others. It was thicker and upon examination I discovered that behind each door was not only a picture and saying, but chocolate candy as well. (Wow, this was great!) But there were two of us and only one calendar.

Meaning that every other day I would get a candy, but the next day I would have to watch Karin munch on hers. My mind started to go to work as to how I could beat the system. I slowly opened one door and found a way of gently closing it again without damaging the calendar and leaving any evidence of my tampering. Seeing and smelling the chocolate gave me the not so brilliant idea of eating ahead of schedule.

Soon I had consumed five pieces of chocolate, which meant that I was ten days of ahead of schedule as far as my doors were concerned. Although there were slight feelings of guilt, (I tried to find replacement chocolates at the store before I was found, but had no such luck) I managed those guilt feelings by eating more candy. Reality did catch up with me, when all my pieces were gone. I had squandered what I had, ahead of time.

Life can be just like that. We can chew on yesterday's pain and sorrow and drown in a pool of self-pity, or we can live off tomorrow, and when tomorrow comes it is all used up. At the same time we can choose to live today, live out the moment, experiencing and tasting life at its fullest. That living the present moment has been hardest for me to learn, but I have had some fantastic teachers along the journey like my own children and then Christmas season of 1996 a little girl in Kampala, Uganda.

Christmas in Africa obviously has no snow with it, we usually have a bit more rain, but in Kampala Uganda it was humidity and heat as usual. There were some signs of Christmas, I had decorated some kind of makeshift bush with some bulbs that I found in the Lebanese Grocery store run by Muslims, as I was searching for a bar of Lifebuoy Soap, the original pungent scent that I still like. I had brought them home and Ruth, one of the House-Girls had helped hang them, saying..."this was just like she had seen on an American TV show." I gave no response but mumbled something about cooler temperatures and so on. I did find that on Sunday night, the Nile Hotel was putting on a special Christmas presentation of African songs and dance, different from their normal program. I got there early and managed a small table in the front row...I had the usual, a steak BBQ'd African Style with Tunisian spices added (the management of the Hotel were from Tunisia). The Nderre Troupe was in fine form, the dancers moved to the beat of drums and other assorted instruments. I was always amazed how the women could move their feet differently from their hips, and the speed was amazing. It was an enjoyable evening, at the end of the performance all the kids were invited up to dance and join the group in the fun. I had to smile as to how the children could get into the moment, how they could forget about it all and just enjoy...Just then the cutest little Ugandan 5 year old girl in a bright red dress came up to me...and said "do you want to dance, come and join the party" in her Ugandan accent.

I was caught off guard, there were no other adults but the dance troupe dancing, I felt awkward, she looked at me with her bright eyes, and her hair in short tresses decorated with bright beads. The next thing I was dancing with over a hundred children, at first conscious of my actions, of what people would think, and as the little girl held my hands and we moved to the sound of the music, I was lost in the moment, I began to move with the music, to flow with the sound, now dancing alone, unaware of my surrounding, just lost in the pleasure of enjoying the moment, the here and now.

As I sat down, the audience mostly Ugandans with a few white faces thrown in here and there, stood and clapped, at first I thought it was for the children, the group, but then I noticed that they were smiling into my direction, applauding me. I was embarrassed, all my Germanic feelings of propriety arose, but then I too laughed, realizing that I had simply done, what all the others wish that they would have.

Living the moment, celebrating the here and now, like Zorba the Greek in his dance of joy. Dancing to life with life, celebrating each day as it comes. Often I will dance when I come out of the shower in the morning to the beat of a tune by Tina Turner, laughing as I remember back at learning a lesson about the here and now from a little girl Christmas a few years back in Uganda.

 

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Last updated: 02 December 2010

Celebrations with an African Twist

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