Phina Oruche: A kite helped restore the family's soul
WE HAVE all been tense these past few weeks. For one reason or another, there has just been lots of turmoil in the air
Updated 21:28, 7 MAY 2013
I decided to take my child for a Sunday morning walk, spur of the moment, to just forget about all the should dos. Should go to church, should drive to a friend's party out of town, shoulda woulda coulda.
My husband had "man flu" of which I'd had the female version for a week myself but with surprisingly less histrionics and a mother's ability to carry on.
Whenever he is sick, I am really grumpy because of the martyr he turns into. Oh, and the blow by blow accounts of the near-death severity of it all.
I needed something and fast! I mumbled "I am taking baba for a walk" and, to my consternation, he said "I want to come too".
I just wanted to get out but, if I take stock, my boys and I needed to unite.
We have learned that water heals us collectively, so off we went straight to Otterspool, picking blackberries along the way, walking, often in silence (OK let me not lay it on too thick, there's only so much silence a three-year-old is capable of).
Nevertheless if the calm of the Mersey was not sufficient, the simplicity of seeing a lone kite on the horizon restored the family's collective soul.
On investigation we learned that there are kind souls who love to fly kites and, when I engaged one in conversation, the man spoke of the time when he was an 11-year-old boy and his father taught him the joy of making and flying kites.
His father has passed on now but not forgotten, he has left a legacy for his son. Every time he flies his kite a little of the old man's soul is set free. What a window into another generation, when a man would think nothing of spending that time with his son.
Making the kite was very inexpensive, so it's not a financial thing. Our generation is sometimes very rich in the advances of technology and yet very poor in terms of time for one another. Guilty as charged.
Northern Kite meet there every Sunday and Wednesday with kites of all different shapes doing an aerial ballet.
They put on a display that people would pay to see, but do it for free because they are enthusiasts.
Remember those? People who do things just because they like it? They hope to infect you with a desire to at least learn, and give out free kites for the kids.