Life is about choices

At the outset, let me state upfront that what I am about to put out there, most certainly has its exceptions, because there are definitely situations in life which are beyond our control. That being said, allow me to muse …

This past weekend saw the wife and me crack an invite to a good mate in Pretoria and, together with six others, enjoyed one of South Africa’s national pastimes – a braai. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the breeze – when present – was gentle and refreshing. Heck, we even noticed the buds blossoming and I swear I could see (and hear) the grass growing. What a perfect Spring day. What a great day to be alive.

We, to a man (and a woman), thanked our various deities for being this privileged, and it had nothing to do with material wealth.

Now, with the scene having been set, I want to focus on a conversation that we had with one of the parties present: he was briefly telling us about the changes that the various lockdown stages had caused him and his wife to make, and how he had to adapt to keep his mind and body in shape. We spoke about his university studies that he commenced last year, and how he was coping with his various assignments. We laughed and reminisced about ‘the good ole days’, and marvelled at our hosts’ superb gastronomic skills (there definitely are right and wrong ways to have a braai: meat selection is most important, then comes the preparation and marination, and only then do you concentrate on ensuring the perfect braaiing technique – can be tough being a South African …). Snippets of conversations could be heard from everyone, and each was equally as interesting and intriguing.

The conversation flowed, the drinks adding to the loosening of inhibitions, were there any to begin with. It was a truly great get-together, and I can honestly say that we all enjoyed ourselves … immensely.

After a good few hours, it was time to depart. It was great seeing old friends once again, and our friend (mentioned above), together with his wife and their friend who had accompanied them, carefully negotiated their car out of the driveway to begin their journey home – the end to a perfect day (although he did say that the day only ended at midnight and, therefore, there was still much to do).

So, you may be wondering, what is the point of this extravagance – the fact that I have lured you into reading this far, perhaps, is that you are expecting a punch line? Well, honestly, in today’s age, the punchline should not be that unusual. But I need to get back to the topic …

Life is most definitely about choices (subject to the qualification mentioned above): we could all be bemoaning the unfairness of lockdown; the restrictions placed on our lives, both social and economic; the inconvenience of this, that, or the other. But we all learnt a valuable lesson that day, because our friend was enjoying life to the fullest, and still enjoying every moment that he has been given. And he was so happy to be sharing his time with us, together with his wife, who is 91, his friend, who is 87, as well as the rest of us.

He is 95.