Monday 27 June 2016

Ramadan Journal 2016: Day 21 – Listen

Quite a well-timed prompt for the 21st fast. Yesterday I was tired from fasting and having a busy day and didn’t feel like talking to anyone. So yesterday the kids thought it was a good day to drive me slightly mental and just not listen to anything I was saying. I wanted to visit my mum and ended up staying to help with an iftar (fast breaking) meal she was hosting. The only problem is that my number one rule for Ramadan has been both the babies must be fed and in bed before the fast opens. We put this rule in early in Ramadan as they both run riot. For some reason iftar is the exact time they go a bit mad. The one day I let my guard down and allowed Baby to join us, she tried to pour herself a glass of water and spilled the whole jug. She then managed to kick over my glass of water. That’s aside snuggling into my lap and eating my food. So now when she tries her big-eyed sad face on me because she wants to get out of the cot, I just think of the mess I know I will be cleaning up and stick to my guns.

Yesterday I couldn’t put them to bed because I was at m mums place with them. So by the time we were opening our fast I was so tired of asking people to lower the volume of the television and their voices, of asking people to sit down and trying to stop them squabbling, I just wanted to cry. I thought fasting might put have a calming effect on Gorgeous, but he too was in full flow, making silly noises, annoying his brother who was tired and teasing the babies. He informed me that I couldn’t stop him because he was fasting and I couldn’t tell him off. I soon put him right on that one. By the time iftar came around, I managed a samosa and some fruit then took them all home, leaving poor Shutterbug Sister with all of the dishes and mess. We went straight home, they went straight to bed and then I sat down with some coffee and chocolate to wind down before the taraweeh prayer. That is the last iftar I will have outside of home this Ramadan.


The other thing I have been listening to in the last few days is the sound of rain on my bedroom window. We have had thunder lightening and torrential rain on and off over the last week and a half or so. One day last week the roads on the way were backed up with traffic due to flooding, meaning either people couldn’t get to work or get and then struggled to get home (it took me an extra hour and a half that day). The house has looked like the inside of a laundry with every surface covered in boys t-shirts and endless little socks out to dry. But I am happy. I love the rain. The sound of rain on my window is one of the sounds I love the most and I find it deeply therapeutic. I also think there is so much mercy in having rainy days when Ramadan is in the middle of summer and sunny days can mean thirst and feeling overheated.


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