Further Notes from a 24 Year-Old Incompetent

Further Notes from a 24 year-old Incompetent

I was going to write a serious blog full of pious advice and my analysis of Ramadhan and Eid and Shawwal.  But, when I sat down at my computer I found I was suffering from “Writers Block” and the screen remained as blank as my mind, even though I had looked up some smart references to quote from in the blog, and had even discussed the six days of fasting during Shawwal with one or two people who genuinely know about that sort of thing.  But it didn’t make any difference how long I looked at the screen;  it still stayed blank and my mind seemed to collapse into a void from which it hasn’t yet emerged.

I have a friend who is a REAL writer;  you know, she has had stories and articles published and is working on a book which some publisher has paid her an advance for.  Now she says there is no such thing as “Writers Block” and, if you can’t write something, you are either lazy or stupid.  I think in my case it’s both reasons……………………

Which of course brings me on to why I feel so flat after the glories of Ramadhan and the fun of Eid.  In truth I shouldn’t be feeling down at all; after all I have my living/work room back and I no longer trip over kids when I go into my bedroom.  Okay, I’ll explain.  My beloved father is no longer young (mid 80s) and he sees death as his next step along his path to Jannah.  He’s not gloomy or downcast by that prospect but he decided he would like to have “one last” big family gathering.  So my brothers and sisters and their husbands and wives and truck-loads of kids descended on us for Eid.  One of my brothers flew his family in from Germany and the rest came from all over the Middle East and, after the peace and tranquillity of Ramadhan, the house was suddenly invaded by an army of my siblings and their kids.  Luckily my eldest sister lives near by and commuted her mini-tribe of husband and five kids over to here daily.  But the rest stayed with us which will explain why I seemed knee-deep in small and extremely noisy nephews and nieces last Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Can anyone out there in the great Islamic Blogosphere explain why unmarried ‘Aunties’ get used and abused so much as unpaid baby-sitters and play leaders for their youngest relatives. ?  This year my most lasting memory of Eid is being used as a horse and being ridden round the house by half a dozen 3 to 8 year olds.  At my age I don’t really expect to be crawling round the place with small nephews and nieces on my back yelling “Giddy-Up” and trying to urge me to greater speed as though they were riding a race horse.  When my youngest brother (still a lot older than me) yelled, “Hi Ho, Silver !!” I went on strike, lying down on the floor and claiming to have been ridden to death.

And, of course, there was the memorable time when on Wednesday morning after Fajr I decided to really give myself a treat, and I crawled back to bed and was asleep again within seconds. Seconds later, I was bounced on by two of my nieces who wanted to know why cats have tails.    I really did NOT feel like discussing the skeletal make of felines at that time of day but…………………..  (If you really want to know how a cat balances him or her self with its tail, look it up on Wikipedia and DON’T ask me.  I am all tailed out!)

Now that they have all gone the house seems very quiet and I miss the noise.  Obviously something is wrong with me mentally as one day I am praying for quiet and now I am missing the deafening sound of kids dashing around here.

And I still am suffering from Writers Block but I seem to have filled some space with my chatter.  Insha’Allah you will forgive me for wasting your time if you have read this far.   Next time I WILL try to write some thing worth reading but this time I’ll just say I had a truly wonderful Ramadhan, and that I enjoyed Eid greatly.  Insha’Allah I hope all of you did too.

Walaikum salaam,  Aliyah