This unfinished draft, popped up on my ideaSketchpad or sort of popped up; an essay that I worked on in December 2022 / January 2023. Now, to add the finishing touches.

This was on our (Jeannie , my wife, the Batik Influencer) and my trip to the U.S. to visit our No.1 daughter, Laura; for the first time since August 2019. We were there to also attend her graduation from university.

We were met at the O’Hare International airport in Chicago, by Laura’s university swim coach, Dr. Duesterhaus; who drove all the way from Decatur (about 3 hours south-west of Chicago) to pick us up and take us to Decatur. American hospitality – unmatched.

Our meet up with Laura when we got to Decatur was immensely wonderful. Four years, well; almost four years of Whatsapp video calls, Whatsapp messages, emails – and now, in person. What joy!

The picture above was the first family together reunion shot as we got into the house. We didn’t want to take any pictures outside because we could not wait to get in the house. It was freezing cold. Decatur winter. Thank goodness it was just a breeze and not the infamous winds blowing that night. It would have made it all the more uncomfortable to get from the car to the house.

Picture on the left ↢ of me in the bedroom, already at work, putting an article together, while at the same time, trying to catch up on reading.

There is nothing like reading physical books, being able to flip pages, and hear them flipping at the same time. get the smell of the ink on paper (the smell may no longer be there. You can imagine the smell of ink as the letters, words, sentences and paragraphs, newly set ((printed)) on paper dries up).

Reading from a screen is alright for a few minutes, I guess; before a notification, message or advertisement pops up to distract you. It is the only 1 (one) time you’ve got; and everyone, company or distractor is trying to get a piece of the action – your time. Here’s the thing: you don’t have multiple lifetimes, whether running concurrently or one after another. You’ve got one shot at making the only life you have – spectacular; which means using it the way that it is going to inspire you, and others, too.

Don’t forget to grab my book when it hits the shelves in the near future.😁

The picture on the right ↣ of the “Windowed View Of The Outside World” gave me a glimpse of a real live view or what I otherwise saw on tv of an American neighbourhood. Winter, trees without leaves, snowfall flickers on and off, lightly. Houses were basically square or rectangular, mostly 2- or 3-storey, many with a mix of brick, stone, concrete and wood.

This view was my view for a month, as I sat at the table each time, with the window not going anywhere, right in front of me. I am a dreamer. I love to stare outside and let “my mind is my playground” wonder. Think of it: There are no two 1 seconds, or two 1 minutes, or two 1 hours the same. Every moment that has passed is already a different phase. If there is a camera fast enough to capture the transition from one moment to another, you will notice the difference.

It is here at this table, that I wrote a couple (or more) of articles on how robots, like a trojan horse, is taking over the world. I also wrote about how we are easily giving up our rights to decide things for ourselves without putting much thought into it – all in the name of making lives easier for us. Food for thought articles. And more. I found it fun writing those essays.

Laura introduced us to the local cafe, the River Coffee Cafe in Decatur town. It was a cool place to hang out, chill or get some work done. The atmosphere was right, great place to have coffee, some light bites and for us, to do some light work.

In this whole time we were in Decatur, I missed my good friend that I met in my last trip to Decatur, Dick Black. He had just moved to South Carolina a few days earlier. We are still very much in contact through social media.

Spending time with Laura when we were there – there was magic in every moment. I think we cannot or should not spend time trying to think up of what to do or plan what we should do with big chunks of time like weeks, months and years only. Let’s start with the little fellas like moments, seconds and minutes in the present.

U.S.A. – Would I? Definitely!