DP Photo Challenge: smile

/ Su Leslie
Shot of greeting card showing the Three Wise Men. Caption says "well... I thought a book token was a very sensible idea."

Greeting card; given by a friend so many years ago that book tokens were still a “thing.”

Smiles have been in rather short supply lately for family ZimmerBitch.

The boy-child is learning some hard lessons on his path to becoming an adult; dealing with work and study and a raft of annoyances and disappointments that have left him exhausted and glum.

Anxiety about our son’s welfare, coupled with stress around the decisions we need to make about our own future, have left even the normally cheerful Big T struggling to smile.

And as if the emotional grims weren’t enough, ALL the family cars have recently suffered some sort of ‘needs-money-spent’ problem.

Then yesterday the glass panel on our kitchen range-hood decided to part company with the rest of the device, leaving every surface in the kitchen twinkling under a sea of broken glass. And leaving us shopping for a new range-hood.

But still, when I went into the office this morning and saw the “Three Wise Men” card, I smiled. Partly because I think it’s genuinely funny, but mostly because it’s a reminder of a friendship that stretches back almost 40 years, and a friend who cheers me up when I need it.

I need it now.

Daily Post Photo Challenge | smile

56 thoughts on “DP Photo Challenge: smile”

  3. When the dark days descend in a storm it can be difficult to remember what the sunshine feels like on your skin. Hold out for the weather change that will eventually come. No storm lasts forever.

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  5. Oh Su, those kids they’ll get through it. Sometimes you just have to let go and say a little prayer. I’m sure you taught him well through the years. Now’s the time he has to use that wisdom you imparted to get on with things.
    Hugs Leslie

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  6. Seems like the blues is infecting several of my blogger friends this week. Sorry to hear about the woes, but you know that your boy will survive. After all he is YOUR boy. Hard to let go sometimes. Having four kids it all seemed much easier for me than those with only one or two. I guess I had time to get used to them leaving home, one by one. Sending hugs ((( ))) xx

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    • Thanks so much Jude. There does seem to be a rash of the blues around; and I’m realising my woes are pretty minor compared to a few people I’ve spoken to in the last few days.

      The boy is pretty resilient and I am very proud of how he is coping. I think part of my problem is being angry on his behalf at how lousy treatment of the vulnerable (the young, the low-paid and tenants particularly) has become institutionalized here. It’s all he and his friends have known, but I grew up in a kinder, more egalitarian society. 🙂

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      • I got the impression that Kiwis were friendly and kind folk. Sad to hear that there are problems like anywhere else in the bigger picture. To be expected I guess. Life seems to revolve around money and money = greed in a lot of cases. Ineffectual governments and too many people looking after number one!! I hope he feels better about things soon. He’s too young to be weighed down by “stuff”

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        • I think we probably are still a relatively friendly nation — and I believe that most people are good at heart. We still manage to rally around our neighbours and strangers in strife, but increasingly it’s expected that individuals and charities will provide services that once we could expect from the state. I dislike that approach as it so often carries a moral dimension of defining a “deserving poor.” And NZ used to be such an egalitarian little country. 🙂

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          • There seems to be a charity for everything these days, as you rightly say, doing the job that the state should be doing. What really gets to me is how badly public money is used. Here we get landlords letting rooms to half a dozen people who get housing benefit so the landlord gets it all and yet the house is unfit to live in! Surely someone should be checking that this does not happen. And all the wasted millions spent on ‘new ideas’ !!!

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          • It’s much the same here. Low wages are supplemented with state benefits — handed out to the “deserving” poor. Yet paying people a living wage would probably cost less and produce better outcomes. Employers seem unable to understand that workers are also consumers. ☹️

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          • Good point! I am at least feeling grateful that we have electricity and an intact roof. A storm hit Auckland a few days ago and so many people are suffered damage to their homes, and are still without power. But the spirit of kindness is strong, with friends’ providing soup and showers and turning up to clear away fallen trees etc.

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  8. Pingback: Smile: Stan – What's (in) the picture?

  12. whew – sending good thoughts your way – and for son.
    I read the comment above and glad things are snapping into place.
    whenever one of our vehicles is in the shop- well if it is a few days – our neighbor used to ask if it was t the car doctor. I thought that was cute.
    and the glass – is that the type that will live you finding pieces for a long long time?

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    • Thanks so much Yvette. Hopefully T and I are done with the car doctor for a while, though the boy-child’s car is still in hospital 😦
      Yes, it was safety glass — the kind that shatters into a million little rocks and gets EVERYWHERE. I’m so glad the new rangehood is a better design — all metal and no glass. 🙂

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      • oh that is good – the new one has no glass.
        We kind of have this special thing we do at our house when someone breaks something.
        Whoever hears usually comes a running to help clean up.
        It is pretty cool when it happens and someone rescues with helping clean up – cos usually when something breaks were busy or just doing something – ya know.
        So like when a plate broke last month on son1 – the hubs came grabbed broom and just started sweeping and picking bog pieces.
        –
        anyhow, the shatter you had would not work that well with that system – might need to call the clean up crew for assistance – lol

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  13. Sending hugs, Su. Lots and lots of them.

    Each individual thing in isolation is not necessarily such a big problem, but when they start to cluster, the cumulative effect starts to become overwhelming. I hope this clusterfuck ends soon and smiles return to family Zimmerbitch.

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    • Thank you so much Joanne. You are absolutely right; it is the clustering of little things that is so exhausting. We just feel like we’re recovering, and something else happens. But T and I have a holiday planned in a couple of weeks and I am sooooo looking forward to that. 🙂

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  17. Ah, Su. I’m sorry things are snowballing like that. I have been there on all fronts, and it is difficult to keep your chin up, especially when your gents are also struggling. Take extra, extra good care yourself — lots of little treats. Sending you hugs from CA.

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