Life in general has a cruel sense of humour

You too will come to the conclusion that life generally has a cruel sense of humour when you look back at your state of grooming when all the momentous occasions in your life took place.

On the day I got my firstborn, many years ago, I had gone to hospital on one mission and one mission only – to get a painkiller prescription for the excruciating pain I was in. Being my first pregnancy, and having a personality that abhors surprises because I thrive on being prepared, I had obsessively read everything there is to read about pregnancy and childbirth, including the dangers of self-prescription.

I was determined to do everything by the book, hence the hospital visit. I had, of course, also calculated my birthdate, so I knew that wasn’t the appointed day. As it turned out, it was the appointed day, I was in labour, but being like all hopelessly ignorant newbies, I had no idea.

The male cashier at the outpatient area, not even a nurse, took one look at me and requested for a wheelchair. I was in labour, labour that found me as unprepared as a person with my personality can be.

A friend who had been there and done that had advised me to get my hair done in a long-lasting hair style because after birth, I would become a prisoner in my own house for at least three months, therefore the last thing I wanted when the D-day finally came was for it to find me with a bad hair day. But that is exactly what happened.

 Not only that, I was admitted in hospital without all those things that a woman in labour is supposed to check into hospital with such as baby clothes. Talk of being caught off-guard. As it is, I went through almost four months of maternity leave with a head that looked like Medusa’s.

Impromptu meeting

Have you also realised that the very day you’re dressed down, looking like you’re just about to step out to the market on a cold rainy day is the very day your boss calls you into an impromptu meeting with a roomful of potential big money clients the company has been trying to woo for a while? And that just when you have taken a spoonful of food is when the important phone call you have been waiting for a whole day finally comes through, and you have no idea what to do with the lump in your mouth, yet you cannot afford not to pick up the phone call.

I also cannot count the number of times I have struggled to fall asleep at night, and in what seems like a few minutes just after sleep decides to be merciful and overcomes me, the alarm goes off, signalling time to get up and get ready for a new day.

But these are just light-hearted unremarkable examples that cause no harm, they just leave you feeling a little frustrated. There are other examples that are simply confounding, incidents that make you question the meaning of life.

For instance, a few weeks ago, there was a story in the media about a woman who died just a day after her wedding, the very same day she and her husband were to travel for their honeymoon.

What of the heart-rending story of the couple that died in a road accident with their three children, leaving a toddler behind? Or that of a newly engaged couple that was shot to death by thugs? Or the numerous stories of women who carry a pregnancy to term only for the baby to die at birth, or a few days later?

It’s true, life can be disconcerting and force you to ask numerous questions that have no answers, but what choice does one have other than to continue living while hoping for a better tomorrow?

The writer is editor, Society & Magazines, Daily Nation. Email: cnjunge@ ke.nationmedia.com