Matt

A BED OF FLOWERS

All the while Matt’s health had started to suffer but we hardly noticed.

It was not until Mum started to recover that we began to observe a decline in the baby’s health.

He had lost weight considerably and when we visited the paediatrician, she said it was most likely as a result of mum’s previous health issues.

She wasn’t breastfeeding him as and when due, thus he did not get as much colostrum as he needed so it seemed as though it was more of a nutritional issue.

At the hospital, they recommended a diet on which Matt was to be placed and we did justice to that.

He responded as expected and began to put on weight.

Now, he was about a month old.

Matt’s growth was speedy and it wasn’t just in terms of size. He was also a very intelligent little boy.

Mum now had to give him the best of her attention because we didn’t want the ugly happenings of the past to resurface.

I also spent a lot of time with the baby boy especially when Mum needed a break.

He cried a lot but this was predominantly whenever he was hungry.

We got him a lot of toys and everything he needed.

I always knew that a child is forever going to remember who was there, not what was spent on them.

Matt would definitely outgrow his toys and outfits, but would never outgrow time and love.

My joy was full as both mother and child were now doing perfectly well. It was a season of happiness for the family.

Mum and dad had always wanted another child and I had always wanted a sibling and God had granted our wishes.

It was Friday and Dad came home pretty late, at about 11pm. By the time he came home, Mum was already asleep but I was still awake.

I was following a match between Arsenal and Dortmund then I started watching a documentary.

Matt had slept off in my arms so I gently laid him in his cot.

“Hey Chris! You’re still awake?

"Yeah Dad. You’re late today, everything okay?”

"Yeah I had a lot of work to tidy up at the office and I didn’t want to carry it over into the next week,” he replied.  

My father was a very hardworking man and I often looked up to him in that light.

He had his shower then joined me in the living room.

While we watched TV, he asked for a perfect time to dedicate Matt at the Baptist church we were part of.

While he stressed the need to do it, he mentioned that it wasn’t sort of a checkbox on a parenting to-do list but an more of an intentional step they needed to take in parenting Matt, to get him planted in the church family just like they did for me.

I suggested we do it when he was 6 months old.

By my calculations I would be done with my second semester by then and so I would be able to attend the service.

The first semester school vacation finally came to an end and I had one more weekend with my family after which I had to go back to school so I could kick off studies for the second semester.

On Saturday when I was done with the house chores, I went out with dad for a walk.

We walked about a thousand metres from our house down to the third estate after ours.

Mum preferred to stay back at home so she could get breakfast ready and also take care of Matt.

‘So Chris, what comes next after college?’ he began as we walked. I told him what I had in mind.

We spoke a lot about career, family and marriage and while he did the advising, I did the listening.

I also asked him a couple of questions as we chatted.

Along the way, we were interrupted by a woman chasing after her dog.

It was an American Staffordshire Terrier. It seemed to have run away from home for some reason although we wondered what must have been the reason.

I kind of felt sorry for the woman who had to go through all of that stress all thanks to the animal.

We watched the rat-race till they were both out of sight, then continued with our conversation.

In the evening I visited the baseball park to play. It had been a long while since I was there.

I was very careful not to leave anything behind whenever I was leaving the baseball park after playing.

The previous regrettable experience I had was still green in my memory.

On Sunday in the late afternoon, we went on a family picnic.

We took lots of food and drinks, some of Matt’s toys and a couple of other things we needed.

There were many options that were before us regarding where we would be having our outing.

We could either do it at  Southville park, which wasn’t too far from Mum’s workplace or the lakeside.

There was even a serene garden at our church and some families came there occasionally to have their picnics and other outings.

We finally agreed on having it at the lakeside.

By 4pm the sun had began to set so it was a perfect time to set out for the outing.

Dad drove the car with Mum sitting next to him at the front passenger seat. I stayed at the rear seat with Matt.

He was in his infant car seat.

The lakeside was a twenty minute drive from our house and during the trip, as I looked through the windows of the car I wondered for a second why the trees seemed to be moving in opposite directions to the car.

Although I got it all figured out almost immediately, I still kept watching the illusion of the moving trees.

Another thing that fascinated me was the water mirage I kept seeing as we went.

I had always wondered what was behind that, right from my childhood days.

Each time I saw it I would plan to ask my teacher in school but it always skipped my mind.

I determined that I would read about it after the picnic but it occurred to me that I could just ask Dad.

However, I didn’t want to interrupt his conversation with Mum.

After a while, they became quiet so I seized the opportunity.

“Dad, what causes the water mirages we see every time on the roads,” I spluttered, fixing my gaze upon him in anticipation of his answer.

Hesitating a little, he replied with a big grin, “oh that?” “Yes Dad.”

“Well, it’s a little bit of physics. The highway mirage is an illusion that occurs as a result of refracted light from the blue sky just above the observer’s horizon,” he began.

“It is caused by the fact that the road is hotter than  the air above.

...So what appears to you as water is in reality, a reflection of the sky.”

With this explanation I was satisfied and elated that I had learned something new.

In no time, we arrived our destination. There was nobody in sight and this felt perfect.

Matt had woken up. He was asleep on the way to the park but opened his eyes immediately the car came to a halt.

While mum carried the baby out of the car, I assisted Dad in bringing down the picnic items fro the car’s trunk.

I didn’t come along with my phone. This way I wouldn’t spend the whole evening scrolling through social media feeds, watching YouTube or texting some random people.

It was family time and family time it was.

We had so much fun. My best part of the picnic was the food.

Mum had wowed us again as usual with her delicious meals.

The most important thing however was the time out we had together as a family, the fun and the love. This was the reason we decided to go on a picnic in the first place.