Whilst watching people as I usually do, my mind went back to my Mother.
Sitting here, waiting in an airport lounge for my flight to be called, I watched a small family group trying to amuse themselves, to help time pass by. As seems to be the norm these days, electronic games play a large part in keeping the human race amused, although there are book shops to be found, I hardly see people with their noses stuck into a good book, for even real paper books are being replaced by electronic aids.
Each member of the family had their own gadget, each pulling faces as they won or lost a point, each moving their body in-tune with the movement of the game.
The mother must have finished her game, for she switched it off, put it away, and started talking to the father who was extremely unhappy by his wife’s interruption.
The two children were clearly oblivious to the interaction between the mother and father, as they were to the world passing them by, an assortment of human life, passengers flying here and there.
It was then the turn of the children to have the attention of the mother. At first they ignored their mother’s words, their minds and fingers were fighting aliens in the far reaches of space, but her foghorn of a voice and a not so gentle tap no their legs got their attention, with an “Oh Mom, I was winning that game.“
You see, mother was hungry, and wanted to stock-up with sweets and snacks for the flight, and now was the time for her to go to the food retail outlets, which now vie for our money, to make our flying experience something to be remembered, to make extra money for the airport operators, for us to buy something we never knew we wanted, like that book that will end up with the rest of the books to be read some other time.
With reluctance, the father and the two children packed their electronics away, and followed mother to buy the snacks, dragging their feet, mumbling under their voices, for they were in the now, still fighting the aliens, not thinking about the future hunger pangs that the mother was totally aware could overcome them all on that flight of fantasy.
It was then I remembered my own Mother when I lived at home. In the morning, when she got up out of bed, so I was expected to be also awake and out of bed. I longed as a teenager who needed more sleep than adults, sleep that stretched until midday, that Mother would have a lie in, to sleep beyond her usual 8am wake-up.
Why was it that when Mother was awake, Phillip had to be awake, when she was up, everyone had to be up, but it was alright for Phillip to be asleep stinking in bed, whilst Mother was asleep, even if she slept to midday?
I was recently retraining my computing skills using the mouse on the computer, playing a game of Solitaire, (that is my excuse for playing the card game, retraining), and I noticed a member of our group was getting quite upset by my activity. “Why was I not interacting with the group?” Yet, not a few hours previously, the whole group was watching a soap-opera on the TV, a TV show I had never seen before and knew nothing about, plus, it was in a language I do not speak, leaving me alone and unwanted.
Why is it that when we are awake, everyone should be up and about, but when we are asleep, everyone should be asleep?
Why is it that when we want to do something, then everyone else should want to do it now with us?
Why is it that when we believe something, then everyone else should believe the same thing?
I have learnt that sometimes just because I want something, to do something, to be somewhere, to understand something to be this way or that way, that sometime I have to keep quiet, to not express my thoughts, my want and needs, to understand that others see the world differently to me, and have different needs, to have a different time scale to me.
What I do not understand, is why people do not see it my way, to understand me and do what I want to do now?
Oh life is Poo Poo. I can not win.