The Mango Remains Uneaten

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I placed a lush, plump mango on my kitchen table at the start of the year. I promised to eat that mango as soon as I got the clothes out of the washer. I got the clothes out of the washer but then I remembered that I had not swept the floor. So, I passed by the mango in agony while its tantalizing scent shadowed me with its mocking trail. Gosh, I just knew I would enjoy the mango. As I finished the second chore and made my way back hastily to the table to the mango that was as big as me, I happened to catch some spider webs dangling so rudely from the ceiling's corners, and of course, since they had overstayed their welcome, I had to kick them out. Damn, I thought, if only I could eat the mango. 

January turned to March and the mundane encapsulation of life still had me in a chokehold and guess what,  I still had not touched the mango. It was more rosy than ever before, more alluring...... gargantuan. It seemed that as the tasks piled higher and became almost unbreable in magnitude, the mango matched in size. Yet, I just could not find the time to consume it. There was always homework, then meetings, then mopping, then planning, then arranging, then delivering, then ironing, then dinner, then fixing, then playing counselor, then folding the laundry, then voice note checkups, then, then, then and then. By 11 p. m and I am usually fragmented,  only to get 5 hours to stitch me back haphazardly before I become a wreck again.....Oh Lord! There was ALWAYS something.

I passed by the mango several times a day but I just could not stop to savour it. It had become an ornament, beautiful yet out of reach but I truly longed to eat it. Then August came and my plate was overflowing, tilting here and jolting there, my fulcrum was unbalanced. I could see the mango but I just did not know when I would relish it. Torture from a fruit. How preposterous!

It is now November and almost December and I am ashamed that I have not even stopped once, to breathe, to recuperate. It's November 13th, and after fighting a plethora of Goliaths in a God given 24 hour day, I still cannot put my feet up and eat the damn mango. The mango remains uneaten. I am ready for 2024 to go.............

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