WHAT MY FATHER TAUGHT ME ABOUT LIFE

• He said that when you don’t prepare for your life by age 40, chances are you will find it difficult the rest of your life.
• He said that when you get married, attend the same church with your spouse and children, it brings unity. The children may change their minds when they leave home but the spouses stay together.
• He said when you think of money, think of long term but short term counts
• He said train your children in the way they should grow, trust them to experience the rest and make the best decision.
• He said never tell your children that you were not good in school. Chances are they might follow. Even if you do, make sure you tell them the great part: you won in the long run.
• He said show your children how much you love your wife, for they will follow you.
• He said the best form of investment is real estate. It takes a long time to build but it is long lasting, come hell or high water.
• He said build your own house. It is not a nice sight, seeing an old man living in an apartment and struggling to pay rent.
• He said live your life so that when you retire, you can tour the world and see the most beautiful places of the world.
• He said never rush in life. Take it one step at a time.
• He said for everyday of your life, look at the next five to ten years.
• He said you can never make it not giving thanks to God.
• He said never forget to pay your tithe because all the money you make or get is not yours. Give God His share.
• He said investment in a human being is one of the best investments you can make.
• He said make sure you know somebody because networking will get you to where you are going less stressfully.
• He said always learn to give, for it will come back in many forms.
• He said never lose hope.
• He said it is better to do your own work if you want to make your own money than work for the government.

 

TAKE A WALK!

quit running!!! Take a walk!

I came back from a walk just some few minutes ago before having dinner and it was refreshing. It is a long time I had one of those. Hmmmmmmm I don’t think since I came back from school last semester I have taken a stroll. I usually do that in the evenings for about at least an hour and a half. It helps to clear to my head and see things better. I talk to myself a lot and God during my strolls, of course when I go alone. I capture new ideas and review my life.

Today I seriously needed the walk. Of late I have given of myself so much that I had to sit back, reflect, refresh my mind and gather new strength to give again because whatever you do you are going to have to give of yourself in this world, that’s the only way to be truly happy in this world. Anyways I’m not talking about giving today, another time, certainly . The thing is, lately I have had a lot of things going, some bad, some good, some tiring, some stressful, some things I have had to tolerate and endure…I have done a lot of things, not for myself but for others. (2^nd Thess. 3:13^b ‘…never tired if doing good.’)

 You know sometimes you think you are fed up with everything. No far from it! You just may not have fuel anymore to go on doing what you do…you need to pause life for a brief second and take a long reflective walk down your area. Just walk through pathways and streets that you haven’t taken before.  Trust me it is worth it! It will be refreshing.

Maybe you are having trouble at home, trouble with the kids, trouble with employment, trouble with everything. You need a long walk! Go alone but go with God. You’ll need Him. This time you are not looking for a miracle, just talk to Him and tell Him how you really feel at the moment about anything, be honest. Oh I’m talking about God, you can’t lie to Him. I meant be honest to yourself about your feelings. Tell Him to give you new strength to go through the life you gave to you. Believe it or not, before you get home, you’ll feel much better to face the challenges in your life. You would have gotten new energy. That’s what I needed tonight.

And least I forget, during that time, don’t answer any call, don’t make any either. Just don’t do anything but walk and talk (to God and yourself). Yep! You heard me, yourself! It always a good thing to talk to yourself. Don’t worry it is a crazy thing, you won’t be going nuts. It is refreshing to talk to yourself all the time in any situation you find yourself in. Sometimes we lie to ourselves during our stressful day with our actions and we struggle so much through it but this time talk to yourself truthfully and quietly (so people around you don’t think you’re going crazy ) and tell yourself how you also feel and positively encourage yourself. You may have heard a lot of bad news that day, a lot of negative things, probably got fired, probably got dumped or the bank may be closing in on you, or you had a near death experience. Encourage yourself! Trust me if you won’t encourage yourself nobody would, not even your closest buddy, wife, girlfriend, family would!

Before you take any long term decision, action, react to anything take a long stroll. It helps! You feel down as in you can’t carry on any longer, take a walk!  ;)

 

Trip To The Mountains

As a sit here to write this early morning on Monday which I gladly welcome, I must tell you the truth the weekend for me has been hectic, amazing and interesting, all packaged in one.
This weekend was when my grandfather, the late J. K. Koppoe was buried. All through the laying in state, burial and thanksgiving, it was great. Great to see all those family members of old who assemble only at times like this. Hey! I even had the chance to see my mum’s elder brother who arrived from the States to bury his dad, my grandfather. Sometimes you know what I dislike about occasions like this. I’m sure you know. When the old folks see you all so grown up and manly now they keep recounting your baby days and never let you stop hearing it. People who took care of me when they came to visit back then when I was a baby see me and ask whether I know them, of course I don’t. How could I? They send me on assignments to find out who they are. When it is one person it could be very annoying then imagine several.
Anyways that’s not what I came to talk about…because this has nothing to do with trip to the mountains. Ohhh my grandfather was buried close to the sea and it was nothing to do with mountains, I know!

On Saturday which was the same day for going to bury grandfather finally was the only day in the month too when the family could go visit my sister at school. It’s an all-girls’ boarding school and visiting is allowed once a month, so if we missed this one, my sister would have to wait till April to see a family face again. Everyone was tied up in the funeral so I volunteered to go see her and send her things to her. My cousin Ben joined me. I know what you thinking. Why should my sister be at school when it is her grandfather’s funeral? Well, there’s this strict protocol with those schools: if it the child has to leave for a funeral it has to be someone very close, either her siblings or her parents. (period) nothing more so she couldn’t make it.
What was interesting about this trip was that was that my girlfriend always wanted to go see my sister, her school and just get out of the boring campus on weekends…lol. So knowing well she’ll like it I invited her. She initially didn’t want to go because I was going with my cousin but everyone in my family’s cool so she later decided to tag along. Even my cousin also didn’t want to go because he said we would put him in the back seat but he changed his mind…hmmm I wonder why?
My sister’s school, Aburi Girls is on the mountains. The journey there was nice, we were all talking and eating and laughing in the car. I was so happy Vida decided to join us, trust me it was worth it; having your woman sitting by your side on a long distance journey, oh boy! It’s good! You know the thing with travelling on the countryside in Ghana; no traffic and lots of free space to speed on but mind you; it could be dangerous with the sharp curves on the mountains so watch it!
My sister was so happy to see us since she was expecting us let alone three people. She came running and jump on me but no way, the girl had become too very to carry. I wonder what they feed them with. I though confinement in school and bad food coupled with the so many learning hours makes you skinny, (it made me) but…ohhh no, not for her! She hadn’t meet my girlfriend before and vice versa…long story short the two of them walked to my sister’s dorm laughing and talking, I wonder what about? Hmmmmm on the first day…well I’ll let you be the judge of that. When I asked them what they were saying they all declined to say something. The game is on now, huh?! We took pictures and all with some of Edwina’s friends. (Yep! Edwina is my sister’s name. I know don’t let us fool you, we aren’t twins. It represents more than that, A BOND) the picture taking was good for me because Vida always had excuses for not taking pictures, and my sister asking her to join us…sure she couldn’t refuse. LOL
It indeed turned out to be a great time for all the four of us. We meet so many of Edwina’s friend and yeah her school mother too, Lily. Oh I miss my sister’s loud voice. Anytime she saw her friends and wanted to call them to introduce them, shouting was no problem. I teased her that in a program she wouldn’t need a public address system. It was also great because my girlfriend finally met my sister and saw Aburi. Trust me if I hadn’t gone with her, she wouldn’t let me hear the end of it. I still remember the previous one…oh boy! My cousin also met up with some of his school mates (my cousin is in Senior High, but with his school its different. He took permission to come home for the funeral).
My sister really wanted to meet all the uncles and aunts. I guess they would have to pass by and see her. Then again that will be a whole string of permissions and signings, maybe sometime later. Sorry sis.
Could you imagine? I asked my sister to give me a peg and she declined saying Vida will give it to me for her. Jeeeeeeeeeeeeees! Now they are pulling stunts too on me already! Opps! We had to be getting back to the funeral. I was sure they had finished with the burial, dad called to confirm and we had to say bye to the girls and leave. You know that’s one thing I would remember this hectic weekend by, the string of those moments. With me everyone’s happy, I’m happy! Then we are back on the road, and my painful thigh had to drive too soon and Vida reminding me that when I wear my seat belt means I’m about to go turbo fast and then she buckles hers. Care to join?!

 

Veracious Vida

She’s like a pearl you find in muddy waters which on first sight you might not realize and ignore as ‘dirt stone’ in the mud and forever lose the value of a wonderful experience. I always thank God I found her. The way the whole thing happened was…was…:P I’ll let you be the judge of how it started. I can’t find the right words yet.

It was a bit tricky for Vida and I when the issue of relationship came up because she wasn’t really sure I had gotten over my ex-girlfriend. Honestly I knew I really hadn’t and I didn’t really want to get myself involved immediately but I defied all odds and asked her out. I know normally people would claim it as wrong because nearly a month after my ex-girlfriend and I broke up I met Vida. Not to say I hadn’t seen her already? I mean come on she’s in all my classes…we were not that close and if you know me, you would know how easy going I am with people. We were always annoying each other bit by bit.

The climax was when one time when at home for the weekend, I had a message from Vida. Mind you I had never called her before and we never had messaged each other. I had always said I would go and see her when I met her on the campus but never really went. Then I received a message from her saying, “Edwin where are you?” I don’t know why but I got worried. Don’t blame me…:) you probably would have done the same thing. Someone you are not that close to, sends you a message on a Sunday morning asking you where you were? I got worried, I called and there was no answer for several times and that made the whole thing so serious. I got back to campus the same day and went to her place immediately since I still hadn’t had any reply but she wasn’t around. Guess what I found her smiling when I was descending her block. Immediate thought: so as least she’s feeling okay! Of course she was surprised to see me there since I hadn’t gone to her place before and she asked what I… No! I didn’t wait for her to ask, I told her I was just from her place and wanted to find out how she was doing. I escorted her back to her room, she grabbed something of hers and she said she wanted to walk around. She loves walking, amazingly something that I do so often on campus because I never had the time or maybe I hadn’t thought about it.

It’s an amazing walk; we started by annoying each other, rather funny sort of. We always do that! Before anything I asked her what happened and she sent me the message that morning. You know what I vowed never to overreact to any message again. She had just sent the message to verify if I was on campus and wanted to know if I was at the Joint Service. Ohh you should have seen my mind to know what I thought. LOL. From then we sat on what people like to call ‘lovers bench’ and talk the whole night off. I really talked about so many things she couldn’t believe she was telling me but she told me anyways. There’s a lot of opening up and all… that semester I had raised up the topic of going to pray with so many of my female friends, some denied, some just said, they can’t go with me, others, time factor. I asked Vida expecting the same response like the others and she agreed just like that. She didn’t know how we were going to do it but she agreed. I pray on my own almost every night on this field on campus most people go to pray on in the night and I just wanted to make another person prayer conscious, that’s all. After that first night that we TALKED, Vida confessed that she couldn’t believe that I actually came because of the message she sent…and that, it was sweet. Well I went to her place every night and called her to go and pray and up till now all those who know us know we still do. If you actually called around that time I won’t pick up…send a message.. the miraculous thing about us praying was that Vida had pray to God that He should send someone to her to help her get her prayer and spiritual life back on track so… ok ok time to sleep…

To be honest, I hadn’t really gotten over my ex-girlfriend when I asked her out, we both knew that but a strong woman she was, she gave us a chance after careful thought. Say it was the stupid thing to do but I found happiness and true love again and everyday I love her and would die everyday if I had to prove it. ohhh before I forgot we still take the walks and talks always!!!! Te quiero mucho!

 

Have You Seen Her?

               Hey! I wonder even how I’m going to start this one, because the experience did really leave me speechless. Then I’m thinking, why am I talking to you? I know I’m stunned right now and I cannot speak. Maybe you will remember a story right here on three days with joy. In that script I told you that I have a crush some gorgeous woman. Boi! All the time I was talking about her, I hadn’t seen her recently. The last time I remember seeing her was in 2005. Now 2008, I don’t know how God did it? Our paths crossed mid this year when God brought us into each others lives. I still hadn’t seen her because we were leaving in different countries at that time.

                  Have you ever felt a connection to someone you can’t see (in this case I ad seen her before) and then you only talk. Sure you have, at least. Right? Good! Then we are kind of getting into the same page here. Well, well, well, let me cut this entire thing on beating around the bush and get straight to the point. There’s a program at the National Theatre almost every Friday for a couple of weeks now, called Stars of the future. I will tell a lot, lot more on that. That’s where I was going to meet..you can call her the ice to melt a hot heart and a warm fire to heat up a cold heart. I don’t know if you can get me. Maybe you will find someone like her in this world again, but surely! It is going to be difficult. Did you say why? I’m kind of surprised at you. They are rare, when you do find one, believe me when I tell you; you are going to love to make all the happy music about it, even if like me you really don’t have the perfect voice. LOL I know you want to disagree with me and tell me about your queen but hmmmmm boi! Trust me when I tell you, I know okay and you have no idea what I’m talking about. Hmmmmmm, once again, I know I’m beating about the bush again. But hey! Relax the story of that Friday is yet to unfold.

                    That faithful Friday- I wonder why writers do call it faithful- Well I got the program very early, call it eagerness; call it anxiety. You know what I call it? I hate traffic, that’s why? Okay! Let’s be a little honest here, maybe I was so anxious to meet the woman that stole my heart. Funny thing, she still has it. So what was I saying? Yea! I got there, parked; I kind of like turned my head on every car that pass behind me, for what purpose? I’m sure you know. Maybe the experience could be described like a blind date. Just that with this one, you know who the person was, you have seen the person before though in a long time, thing is; you wouldn’t know what to look for, because you just didn’t have an idea. I later went inside when the program was about to begin, I was watching and enjoying the live band performance, and then my phone rang. No! It rather vibrated. Yea you guessed it! It was her. I was just hoping that she hadn’t seen me first, or was somewhere in the crowd watching me, probably behind me even. Surely I was glad when she said she was outside. Guys! You know what happened. I got like, okay! This is it. I recall her saying before not to expect a lot because I will disappointed. Yeah right! I have this theory that most, if not all woman who are beautiful will tell you they are not. You think I’m lying, think about it? Most women would go like “I didn’t know that” “Are you sure?” “You know, I think you are trying to flatter me here because surely my mirror never does tell me that” You know what I thought when she said that, that’s good right? I mean according to my theory. Means the woman is gorgeous, which is a plus. Why? Because all the time I hadn’t seen her and only did talk to her, I saw an inner beauty, which can be compared now to her physical beauty. Guys! You know why I say she’s rare.

                      Allow me to continue my script, okay! Stop pausing me, Well so I went out the main building to the stairs when I spotted a friend of mine, an old class mate. You know what? I hate that part when someone or something all of a sudden comes between your goals. Then the friend of mine starts talking. Opps! Did I mention he was a guy, so he was like trying to catch up on every single event since we left high school? But then I kept giving him the eye, like I’m trying to get to someplace, but he keeps talking. Then I realize that there was the person, that woman, right there, a few feet from where I was. I know she tried to avoid my eyes, because though I was talking to this guy who’s name got lost from my head at that particular minute, I kept looking at her direction, no! I mean at HER.

             Relax I haven’t come to that part yet. In order to prevent further conversation with my friend, I saw my little adorable friend, my queen’s sister, called Love (Beautiful name isn’t it? You can draw up lots of love from her being. I drew her close to get into a conversation with her for the first time, face to face. I loved talking to her, she laughed throughout the conversation. I’ll tell you a great lot about her sometime.

              Don’t get me wrong, I love talking to friends, I didn’t mean to avoid my friend, but yea I had to at that moment. Jeeeeez guys sometimes, a man has to do what a man has to do.  Okay! Now to the main stuff; remember my theory on beautiful women. Yeeeeah! I was right! Though I know she is still going to deny it to my face but take it all in. You know the first impression that came to me that moment I saw her. There was the gorgeous looking woman, in a beautiful green dress (green’s my favourite colour), hair neatly done. I don’t know if I can write this anymore, it feels like I’m trying to describe something here that can’t be described; it’s simply just pure elegance. Did I tell you about the way she talks yet? Yea I think so, in the other script. I told you, there was this soothing touch in her voice that made you want to turn around anytime to listen to every word she spoke. Even if she didn’t speak, I love to listen to her silence. It says everything.

               Then it clicked, I’m still standing there with her sister and I asked her, “Doesn’t your sister look beautiful?” She knows I was right, but maybe I should have realized I was talking to another female, but her reactions and slight delay in answering the question gave her away. All this time my queen is talking to a friend, and then I got close to her, my other friend may have noticed something. Well he should have! I’m kind of like, it had taken some time. Well I managed to cut their conversation with the Love. I’m sure she didn’t even realized what she did. Then my queen goes to introduce me to her friend she was talking with. I’m here trying to still remember her name. I don’t mean to be rude but I can’t. You should know where my mind was all this time, looking into the queen eyes. She probably unconsciously tried to avoid my eyes. Later in the night, we talked and even as I walked besides, my entire world felt alright. I didn’t care and I still don’t care what the world thinks. Pal, ‘m sure you would agree with me that when you do find her, all other things don’t seem to matter.

 

Away but with my heart

I think of you every second, my queen

Every time that passes

Does not flee but with thoughts of you

I wish I could draw you closer

To cover our bodies with our warmth

My love! When shall time bring us together?

And all obstacles smashed through

Though they come, we’ll surely fight them as ONE

To devour the fruits of our love

Away I have been for long

But now I have found my heart in yours

Your very glowing face brings me to dreamland

Your voice, that soothing voice

That beckons the beauty of nature

Your small, carved lips I dare to kiss

You smile and laugh, that humour

That brightens my day

Though I put my hands to stressful workings

My minds wavers and wanders

The pleasure of being with you

In time soon to come

My heart speaks for itself all my heart

 

Live, Love, Laugh!

I’m so sure that you have been probably asked that question, “why are you laughing,” by someone before when you were laughing and no one could see the reason or understand why? I think it’s so good to laugh and smile generally. A research conducted once by a group of scientists in a documentary I once watched on national television revealed that “laughing” and “smiling” was an important action that made people happy and feel bonded with their fellow men. Guess more what the research revealed; even animals do laugh. Honestly that’s where I confirmed the popular saying that, “laughing promotes long life.” Thinking of that, why shouldn’t it add more long life? A man that is depressed averaging one-third of his life: how long do you think he will live? Now imagine a man that has been laughing and smiling, generally happy the in same one-third of his life; how long do you think he can live? Which will live longest; certainly the happy person! I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say we should try and smile and laugh for a least one-third of each day. Then from one day, we have two, which later becomes a week.

Don’t think my words are strange, there aren’t. It happens even with you and around you, all the time. There are days were we feel so happy, probably for no reason, but most times for a particular reason; days that bring joy making us smile and laughs our hearts out. Could you imagine what brought this thought into being in this script? I always have the memory of a friend of mine in Grade 9. There was a spelling between boys and girls. It went one after the other, each person from both parties went to represent their wards after the previous set had finished spelling. There was only one word to spell for each set of opposing sexes. Well, and there was this friend called, Joseph who I just called after I had finished mine. (you call the next person from your sex when you are done) So it was Joe’s turn and the girl representing also was there, and the teacher gave the word; by this time if Joseph failed to answer correctly, we would have no chance of a competition in this spelling. Thankfully Joe’s hands went first immediately making the boys in the class so glad. The girl hadn’t made her mind yet. When Joe was asked to spell the words, guess what? He hopped three times to the left towards the girl (we, the boys didn’t really know what was going on but we laughed all the same, he was a funny guy and such of a dancer). After his seven seconds performance, he placed his finger on his lips and said, “errrrrrmmmmm!” as if now thinking about it. Amazed? Yes! Like you guess, the girls won the contest, after further trials. I always laughed back at this scenario when it plays back in my head. I couldn’t help thinking that Joe did all the dancing and now thought after the word after he was done! Yea, I know it isn’t a joke, but that’s a memory that make me laugh al the time and smile always on what he did!

I know for sure there are the occasion fights and quarrels, of course I’m human too, but it does not have to end there. At this moment I’m imagining a world that is free from wars, where people smile and laugh and love everybody the same; no need for discriminations and it’s surrounding underlines…wow! What do you see if you imagine that too? Yes! There will surely be NO world wars, cold wars civil wars and the others, why because, I make myself happy and don’t let things weigh me down. Like I always say, “you watch my back, I watch yours.” That’s the beauty of life!

I remember once laughing for no reason, I laughed for an entirely 10-20 minutes without having to stop. There was no reason for why? I made myself laugh; maybe you can too? My cousin who I was with, said, “Are you all right? Hey you are becoming mad.” Today was been a very happy day for me: ask me for the reason, I can’t tell you because I have searched and I hav still not found the reason. Hint: Just laugh at those funny and silly moments and cherish them. If madness is laughing and smiling I won’t like to stop that. Maybe you will agree with me that, certainly if I went out somewhere and saw two people at different places; one smiling alone and the other just looks like he is angry with the world! Who would you approach? For me, I would approach the soon to be pal who is smiling; surely I love talking to people when they have things to talk about, their issues, problems and all so I could also talk to the man who looks not-so happy but I would love to be with someone who is always happy in spite of circumstances, always being positive. It gets contagious you know, being around people that laugh and smiles all the time. Let’s pause for a second and tell me how many people who frown all the time are beautiful and appreciate life. I’m trying to think of one but I can’t. So there we have it laughter brings beauty and a positive life form. I think I’m going to be happy all the time, so don’t ask me why I’m laughing because I don’t know the reason myself:)

If you can’t find something to always to happy about, just think about those great times you spent with someone special, the things they said; maybe too the person is not in your family but you always free happy and less depressed (in case you still have some traces of sadness) around the person. I think those moments with the person when you reflect on afterwards will still bring some warmth and a smile on your face. After all like my theory goes, “What is life for, if not for sharing love with other people, then I don’t know what else?” Ohhh! Don’t get me wrong; I know how our day to day achievements (in life, schools, you know the awards and certificates and all) makes us very happy, but it doesn’t last because man also wants more and desires more of those successes. Surely, believe it or not but it is true. Let me ask you a question, the answer will prove itself. “Which moments do you remember being so happy?” Whether you think deep or not, you will still arrive at this common phenomenon; the times you were very happy were when you were with people or had a connection with people. You think I’m wrong? Ok, hold on a moment again and think about it; the answer remains the same, with people. So why shouldn’t you and I dedicate our lives to seeing people happy. Yes! I found it, maybe that is the reason for my always being happy. I love to put smiles on people faces and take off that burden generally. Many times after that I realize there is some inner joy within that surpasses those many laurels and awards that I work hard to earn.

Trust me; just one moment is enough to smile about. I had a friend that laughs very much. I really wanted to copy her way of laughing, I could never do it, but now I know I can laugh about anything and sometimes so no reason too.

Like I said before, if you had two people for instance and one just loves to get on their other friend’s bad side. Let’s say, for sometime the other pal did not want to retaliate. He just looked at him and smiled. Do you think the fight will still continue? Why? The guy who smiled didn’t push back making his opponent amazed and unable to continue. I know sometimes how our parents get. (If you are a parent it still applies to you too, after all you were once children). Most of the time our parents prevent certain things that we want to do, sure they do it out of love but they may step on your toes in the process. Here’s the clue; if they don’t say sorry, and keep complaining all the time about what is wrong with you, always saying negative things about you; don’t yell or scream, or argue. Just listen; it won’t kill you to listen, would it? Maybe she slaps you, (I hope she doesn’t). Hint: just smile. Maybe not only your parents or family but then outside someone you know argues with you. Sincerely it will be a lot better if you don’t argue with the person or saying something bad back; it will save you a lot of energy! Just ignore it. If you do: you save the peace of yourself and your neighbour. The thing is one party has to ignore the other for love and peace to continue, and smiling will really turn your friend on. He would not understand why you are smiling and not arguing. You would be a new person in his eyes. You will gain his respect; likewise the same ignoring theory prevents world wars. How? You see many wars are as a result of two different or same factions thinking one and greater than the other and the other also thinks, he has more power and is stronger. In the process to prove the toughest, many people die. Imagine now, that one faction ignores the other’s boast you think there will ever be war. I know there are other causes too for war, like a people trying to defend themselves from outside occupation. But imagine the ignore theory; we have some many peoples lives saved!

All I’m saying is the depression and bad moments and sad times aren’t worth it in the long run. I know we are humans, we do get sad sometimes, but don’t let it always get to you. Smile… you deserve happiness better than anything more in this life…just be happy! Now do me a big favour and just smile. For what? I think we are way past that now. You still aren’t smiling, are you?