BLUE TUESDAY ......

There was a lawyer who was just waking up from  anaesthesia  after surgery, and his lovely wife was sitting by his bed side. His eyes fluttered open and he said, "You are beautiful" and then he fell asleep again. His wife had not heard him say that in a long time so she stayed by his side. A couple of minutes later his eyes fluttered open again and he said  "You are cute!" Well, the wife was disappointed because instead of  "beautiful" it was "cute." She said "What happened to 'beautiful"? His reply was "The drugs are wearing off!".

Life is full of surprises - I feel like I am on a long non-ending journey.At one point I thought I had 'arrived' but I'm still going. I do not want to be afraid of going slowly, but I think am afraid of standing still. I have always followed my heart and taken my brain with me, and prayed and trusted that it's gonna be ok.

I am having some down moment. My emotions are all over today. I am reminded of when I was growing up in Africa and as a young teenager I struggled with self image. My friends went on to wear short skirts and high heels while I was stuck in polio boots and long skirts to cover my legs. I was a keen reader and I discovered some trashy English romantic novels. I enjoyed reading about how the hero and heroine fell in love with each other. I liked the way they always lived happily ever after, but I often wondered if I would ever find that kind of perfect love because of my far from perfect body.

In fact when I read about the beautiful characters, I couldn't help wondering how someone would write about me. How could the flowery language be adapted to describe my callipers and crutches then in Africa and now as a wheelchair user living in the UK - I think it would take a literary genius to make my body sound appealing in a romantic book. I thought I had overgrown my past but some things come and shake us so hard that we feel like we are going backwards instead of moving forward. 

I am here in beautiful Switzerland training and competing in the most amazing atmosphere but I am struggling emotionally. I am only human and it's perfectly ok to feel this weak. I always look for something positive in each day but to be honest today I am having to look a bit harder.

I love the simple story of Cinderella, she meets her prince, gets married, has babies, and who knows - may be she went back to cleaning and cooking all day and may be the prince never took her to another ball,or may be she had servants and went to every ball. Life is a mystery, and I know our best stories will come from our struggles so I am not giving up at all!!!!!

SWISS ROLLER COASTER

It is so nice to be back in Switzerland once again. It's a country I really love to visit, and meeting all of my friends from International wheelchair racing makes it so much better. Mind you, the weather has been atrocious, rain and strong winds, which made a bit of a washout of our first race meeting over the weekend. But that is elite sport - you plan and train but you can never plan for the weather!  Everything about Switzerland will be one of the things I will really miss when I retire, though I do want to take up a coaching role so perhaps I can continue coming with my athletes.

The news from home (UK) has been truly shocking and disturbing and my heart goes out to the family, friends and colleagues of the murdered soldier, Lee Rigby. My prayers are with them all. What possesses a man to take another man's life in such a cruel manner ???  And in the name of RELIGION ??? If we have no PEACE it's because we have forgotten that  WE belong together.  LOVE should be our most unifying and empowering common spiritual denominator as demonstrated  by the women who sat besides Lee Rigby so he would not die on his own. I believe humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty,the ocean does not become dirty- Let us be courageous and we must not lose faith in humanity.

I miss my son so much  and  I long for evenings when I can speak to him on Skype. He is my pride and joy and being a mum to such a lovely ,gorgeous, strong, clever, sensitive and caring boy has taught me so much about life.I am in gratitude every second of my life and so many times in the middle of my little mess, I am constantly reminded of how big I'm blessed !

I think I needed this time away to reflect on several things about myself. I am surely learning to listen and to be patient. I  miss my friend who is  in the UK  and I wish I could speak with him

all the time but all I can do at the moment is have them in my heart and pray for them. Life is too short,  therefore if you have a great friend, take the time to let them know that they are great.

Life is a Circus.

Had a good weekend of racing over at Stoke Mandeville competing in the British Wheelchair Racing Association Grand Prix, an international meeting. Gloriously sunny weather for a Bank Holiday weekend, you'd think it was summer. My time in the 100m put me in the world's top four this year, and my 200m in the top eight - not bad for an old me -though it's early season and I'm sure the young girls will do super fast times as the season progresses. Still, it was great to meet up with all my racing friends once again, and I'm looking forward to the Swiss Championships later this month.

On Monday, the 'We Care Group' which is one of the projects of Olympia Wafula Foundation had a trip to the circus which was visiting Harlow. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and not an animal in sight! I was told that in the 'old days' there were mainly animals made to perform in a circus, elephants, lions, tigers, horses etc, but I'm happy those days are gone because animals should be seen in their natural environment.

It's been a week of ups and downs emotionally and I have longed for things to change. It has felt like I have no control over things but then I still know when I need to walk away. Keep walking and don't look back! Though we may get lost for a while, it's better to be lost than stranded. I am determined to grow as a person and overcome any obstacle that gets in my way!

Today it's my birthday and Tim, my son,made my day by bringing me breakfast in bed, toast, milk and fruit. I really did feel a tear in my eye and felt really proud. He'll make the girl he meets when he's grown up one lucky girl. As I ate, I remembered the baby girl who was born in a mud hut in Western Kenya, helped into the world by several traditional midwives, the fourth born child in my family, third girl. My mum's friend Annah was a wonderful singer who sang to me in the womb and I was named after her but was later changed to Anne. My African name is Naliaka, which means; 'born during the weeding season'. My dad also named me 'Olympia' which later in my life became very prophetic. I give thanks to God and my parents for the blessed life I have had so far, and long may it continue!!

I have received so many birthday wishes from friends and family -thank you all so much. It's a huge blessing - The more we celebrate our lives, the more there is in life to celebrate. Today, my son said  ".....it doesn't matter how old you are mum I love you". I jokingly said to him that the first hundred years are the hardest, to which he replied, "....I pray to God I will be here to help you blow out the candles". 

I am one blessed hot mama !!