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Fadzayi Maposah-Correspondent
On Wednesday morning I was walking to work as usual, humming a tune while listening to the various sounds around me.
I could hear cars and buses on their way to or from dropping school children.
I live in a street with more than four schools so you can imagine what the area is like on a school day.
There are some people I see every morning as they make their way to school or wait for the children to be picked up. Some are almost late every day, but they are never too late to say a cheerful good morning.
Actually, I look forward to seeing these people and when I do not, I wonder where they are and hope that everything is going on well for them.
So on Wednesday, as I was about to reach the first person I usually see each morning, I fell. The cheerful lady ran towards me shouting, “Aunt are you okay? Aunty!” by the time she got to me, I was doing my best to get up.
She assisted me gently up still asking if I had not been hurt. She quickly checked if my spectacles were not affected. In the process she kept reassuring me that she would be there to assist me if I needed any assistance.
I told her that I did not feel pain except for my knees and palms that had been bruised when I fell. I shook the dust off after thanking her for all support and began to walk back home which was only 500 metres away. When I opened the gate, the ones I had bade farewell were surprised to see me back so soon.
They were even more surprised when I said I had come back to change since I fell.
Like the lady who had assisted me on the road, they all wanted to know if I had not been hurt in anyway. I quickly went into the house and because I felt that my nose had hit the ground and would swell, I got some ice blocks, put them in a towel and put them over my nose.
It was only later that I realised that I had put ice blocks over the wrong place! It was my top lip that had hit the ground. It began to swell during the course of the day. I was thankful that I had to attend a meeting indoors and could actually get away with wearing a mask.
Explaining why one has a swollen lip would have been some tedious exercise. And many conclusions drawn.
Human beings are complex… Some do not wait for explanations, they just observe and come up with their own conclusions and in most cases, wrong conclusions.
When I had cleaned up, changed and a lot of deep breaths to calm myself, I was ready to go outside. This time, each step was taken more cautiously and well calculated. Walking, one only gets to realise after a mishap that is serious business!
It is not merely putting one foot in front of the other. It is the small things that matter. Some very important things we just seem to take for granted.
Gogo said she would accompany me to work when for the second time in less than 30 minutes I bade everyone goodbye. I was pampered all the way and encouraged to get medical attention. Being the responsible woman I am, I did heed what Gogo had said.
As soon as I got into the office, I put on my mask and never took it off throughout the day. Except for some pain from the bruises, I had no major issues. Once in a while, what had happened would flash through my mind and I would be happy that I had not been hurt in anyway. ra
Later in the day I met someone who told me she seen me the day before from some distance.
When I said I had not seen her she then began to ask herself loudly if it had been Tuesday or early Wednesday. I watched her as she debated alone when she had seen me.
She could not remember when she had seen me but I had been wearing a long sleeved dusty pink dress. I smiled at her and said she had seen me in the morning.
She looked at me surprised because the navy blue dress I was wearing was many shades away from dusty pink.
She then went on to ask why I had changed my dress. Before I could answer her she was telling me that as one got older, menstrual flow could be heavy before slowing tapering off at menopause. It was good that I lived near my workplace so that I had quickly gone home to change.
“Dusty pink, hmm, my dear,” she continued “I know it is a trending colour. You can wait to trend when you do not have feminine issues, my darling. There is no trending when a dress is stained dearest.”
I could only stare and because I was just staring, she must have taken it as a cue that I was really taking all she was saying and continued.
Her statements were full of endearing words but goodness they were so misplaced! She was hammering me verbally and then throwing in an endearing word.
“For someone who writes so much regarding this issue, dear, you are so informed. Make use of what you know. Stay well. Take a warm bath when you get home and relax. You will be fine,” she said.
I was happy I had not taken off my mask.
She would have had something to say after seeing my swollen lip, hormonal imbalance?
I walked behind her.
Even after my physical fall in the morning, I had risen, now despite a potential emotional fall, I had risen and was walking. . .
Online Reporter