I’m standing next to the water dispenser, and I pick up a piece of paper sitting on the bottle. I flick it open, and I see a list of items. 1 African woman, 2 Paris, 1 four helping men, 1 three men carrying. It’s an invoice.
I look at the paper and try to make sense of what it means. I’d initially read Paris as pans. I ask my brother what it is, and he says, ‘Look around and you’ll see it.’
I scan the living room, and nothing in it looks like what is on the paper. I ask him a second time. Again, he says, ‘Observe, look around, and you’ll see it.’
I point to the pots and pans on the table even when I know it couldn’t be. I’m really confused and need help to figure it out. I ask my brother again.
He scans the living room and says, ‘You’re in a hurry to give an answer. Relax, look well, and you’ll see it.’
Okay, now I want to get it, so I do as he says. I look carefully at the paper in my hand. Distributors of Household Items and Decorations. Then I look up and point at the home decor on the TV console, matching the item to the list.
I go back to the kitchen, my brother serves my food, and I go to my room. As I’m eating my spaghetti and sweet corn, that moment kept playing in my mind, and I asked myself, ‘What’s the point?’
Then it clicked. Too often, we miss out on little moments because we’re in a hurry to move on.
Those decorations I missed on my first two attempts are like the moments that slip past us every day because we’re not patient enough to spot them. They’d been there for months, but when the time came for me to match them to the list, I couldn’t.
Again, what’s the point? If only we observe and look around, we’ll see the story moments around us.