Twins' Day Out

The 2009 documentary about a day in the life of President Obama made palatable viewing late yesterday evening, coming as it did as the last item on a day spent with friends, laughing, driving around,  eating and doing what women do when they spend a day with their children - catching up and scandalising.  I spent the day, together with the twins, in the first world, where chilldren go to good private schools, where mums, driving decent cars, pick up children from school on time.  A world  where cake sale stalls and cake sales give parents a chance to chat then thereafter, we went to one of these mothers' homes - a sprawling double storey affair in a leafy surburb. The worst was watching the twins, the way they just blended in, no self concsciousness, no lack of confidence, no inferiority complex, nothing.  Its like they were right in their natural habitat.  Now the twins have a sleep-over invitation, and a few more to some birthday parties.   The strangest thing is I did not plan this day.  I did not make any arrangement with anyone prior to what happened.  How it started, I discovered in the morning, just before I started off for work that my mother fired the maid.  My mother is old and cannot manage the twins. I got upset and brought the kids to work.  Then,  one of my past life friends walked in and that was that.

The documentary about the Obamas was moving.  It showed a man totally in love with a dream, a dream that has been realised but also, at a cost.  The families who had not stayed together for six months or more, the sacrifices on the campaign trail,  the victory and the human toll.  What was especially touching was the realisation by Mr. Obama himself of what it had taken to get him into the White House and the momentousness of the responsibilities and promises that lay before him, plus the insatiable curiosity about him as the man of colour.  I do not think that Mr. Obama will be a greater or lesser president than what he is meant to be, but I thank him for totally changing the way the world looks at people in my, this fourthworld.