In Positively Newsworthy: The Little Things, our editors offer some reflections and positive thoughts on subjects that have recently moved them. Enjoy the Autumn 2021 edition below!
Sweet Little Things
All the ways to say ‘I love you’
by Alison McEvoy
As a mum to an under two year old, my days are full of positive little things. So little, in fact, that they are hard to find words for. So invisible at times…that I could almost miss them myself. Young children can exude this sweetness of temperament amid their bids to be heard – which can involve cute noisemaking as well as louder, less cute sounds!
I had spent a particularly long, hard day alone with my son one Sunday while his dad was away. The day felt interminably long. We did rounds and rounds of eating and playing and reading and park walking and dancing and nappy changing. By nightfall I was so exhausted I was letting him lead me by the hand to what he wanted to do next. He had decided he would like to sit by the window a while waiting for his dad to come home…so there we sat.
All of a sudden there was the impetus to get going again. He indicated that he wanted to get down from the windowsill with a pointed ‘mmm’. Then he took my hand and led me to the hallway. He looked down to navigate the first step and noticed a sticker he had stuck earlier onto my bare foot. He let go of my hand and reached down to take it off my foot and stick it to the floor, before re-attaching his hand to mine and navigating me up to the bedroom where he finally wanted to sleep.
That sticker moment has stuck with me. I can hardly express why. It is so teeny tiny, so almost invisible an act…and yet it exuded a tenderness that made the whole day worth it. Yes…it’s the little things indeed.
Stirrings From The Shadow
by Aisling Cronin
I am not polite.
I do not sit
And smile
And think
Of how best to present myself:
With a genteel sip of tea, perhaps,
A nod of assent to the callous joke,
Or the barest sliver of cake,
Lest I be chastised for wanting more.
I am not tranquil.
I bring discomfort in my wake
When you say you don’t mind
(because good souls never mind
– good souls are ever-patient,
ever-placid, ever-kind)
Yet I rise up, spitting fire and fury,
To push you towards greater honesty.
I am not your acceptable self.
Yet I am still You,
Just as strong
And pure
And vital
As your softly loving voice.
I am the shrill note of dissent
That pierces a carefully
constructed symphony.
Hear my wild call and see that this, too, is love.
