Things that I knew when I was growing up

I knew that my life and my world was not here. It was not there either. It was somewhere. It was never really a priority. However, what was told to me was that, this, in particular was not to be my world and that I shouldn’t get too used to things.

I knew that on an aircraft, if I wanted a gift like the other children, I would have to ask for it and then, work at convincing the air hostess that I was indeed a child. I was tall for my age and most air hostesses would pass me over. My mother looked at me with pride, and I, in turn looked at toys and games that went over my head to others.

I used to love air travel, still do. I learnt, much later on, to be able to control the ears popping during take off and landing.

I knew when either of my parents were happy and when they were not. I knew the best was to get out of their way until the former state returned. It was better, I learnt, to not say anything. I did not know what there was to say. It was unfortunate, for me, that the two were not able to coordinate their moods and on the occasion, influenced one another’s.

I knew that when guests came home, there would be relief. My parents would put away whatever it was they were bickering over and for those few hours, they worked in perfect harmony. I used to wish the guests would never leave. Most mistook this emotional clinging for my affections towards them.

What I knew was that my mother could see everywhere. She once rolled her eyes all around to tell me how it worked. So, there was really no getting away from anything.

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