Tues 17th August 2010
Breaking news! I got through an entire morning session of Parent and Toddlers without participating in the oh so important ritual of gossip, coffee and biscuits. Well, maybe the gossip got a bit of a look-in but the coffee and biscuits most definitely did not. I suspect some mums got a secret enjoyment out of chomping their Kit-Kats in my personal vicinity, but for the most part, people were considerate and unexpectedly interested in what I was doing. You wouldn’t think leaving out two basic components of your day could cause such a riot, but apparently it can.
Mostly, people talked about what they would miss if they were to undertake something like Ramazan. Chocolate was top of the list. Sweets, biscuits, cakes, and I believe somebody mentioned crunchy nut cornfakes. But here’s the thing. I don’t miss anything. I really don’t. The other night I took my little boy to the shop just before his bedtime so I could purchase something really scrumptious as my first treat at sundown. Whilst Baran made a stampede towards the Fruit Corners (now there is a boy who knows what he wants), I floated down the aisles like a lost soul. I wanted something to leap out at me and make my taste buds tingle in anticipation. I wanted my mouth to water at the very sight of a particular delicacy. Granted, the Co-op does not exactly offer a vast choice of gastronomical delights, but you’d think a whole day without food would encourage some kind of desire to well up inside of me.
What I have noticed though, is that when I do eat or drink something at the permitted hour, I am thoroughly, thoroughly grateful for it. And I don’t just mean in a fleeting way. Or in a way that just makes you feel better about yourself for a moment. I mean deeply grateful. And I’m not pretending that what I’m doing is particularly hard compared to what millions of people in this world have to go through. But in my own little world, my own little bubble, I am beginning to feel a deep sense of gratitude towards things I have always taken for granted. And whoever is providing it, God, Allah or the spotty teenaged till attendant at the Co-op, he totally rocks.
And incase you’re wondering, I opted for a Milky Bar. Mmmm.
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