BLUER??...... GREENER??

Yesterday morning, I was watching a programme on Disney Junior channel with my twenty-month old son, Ikem, when the theme song came on during a break. I sang along with them while Ikem danced. (Yes, I'm a mother so I watch that channel and I know all the songs too. Well, when I don't exactly know the words, I act as back-up singer to my three-year old daughter, Nwando.)
At a point, though, the words of the first line suddenly struck me as ridiculous. I found it really amusing too.

I'm going where the sky is bluer

I understood perfectly, how beautifully that line fits in the song.  It's a part of a lovely song that highlights all the beautiful things about the channel. It is also, very perfect and appropriate for their target audience... Individuals a LOT younger than me :)

However, I thought it was ridiculous for an adult to hold on to the belief that the sky is bluer in some places, since it's the same sky everywhere after all.
Then, I remembered that sometimes, the sky does seem bluer than other times. Sometimes, its appearance also changes when we move from place to place. Point A may have had clear, blue sky while point B has dark clouds for a sky.
That may quickly get reversed too.
So, the sky's appearance at a particular place is neither always blue nor is it always grey.

I also remembered a saying with a similar meaning.

The grass is greener on the other side.

That neighbour with a greener lawn definitely pays higher water bills. Can you handle that?
And while you're busy wishing you had his lawn, he's busy wishing those four, noisy (your opinion), beautiful (his opinion) children of yours were his.
You see, they've been married for three years and it's been finally discovered that he and his young wife would never have children of their own.
It had been discovered, just after their wedding, that she had cervical cancer. So, she had undergone radiotherapy which had rendered her infertile.
You didn't know that, did you?
The cancer is in remission but, they live in fear that it may come back, suddenly.

Your neighbour on the other side has greener grass too.
"Why am I the only one whose lawn just never looks nice?" you grumble to yourself.

Do you know that she doesn't think about her lawn, ever?
She has people that worry about mundane stuff like that for her. That’s annoying, right? She just has it all!
However, that useless (that's you again) husband of yours would be to her, a dream come true.
You see, she's been praying since she turned thirty for a man of her own. She's wanted to get married and start a family for so many years now.
She's thirty-eight and she's still praying.
She wishes every night that she had someone to hold her, after a busy day at the office.
You were too busy thinking about her lawn that you didn't notice your husband's face fall as you brushed his arms off.
Don't forget, she would do anything to have him... Anything at all.
She would even give you her lawn.

Your best friend lives on the other side of town. Her neighbourhood is so lovely and her home, really beautiful.
You don't like that you don't live there.

But, you know that you can't afford the price of real estate there.
Somehow, anytime you visit her, the weather seems so perfect. The sky seems so blue too.
She lives near the water and it's so beautiful and very calming to look at. From her wide windows, you can see the waves roll and then, crash on a beautiful beach.
There's no noise and you can even hear the birds sing.
Do you know that in a few days, that sky would turn very grey and the rain will fall? Those waves would become very turbulent. The water wouldn't be beautiful, anymore. There would be an angry storm and that water would overflow its banks.
She would lose her home and her family would barely escape with their lives.
In a few days, she would regret that she lived where the sky was bluer.

Aha! Back in your neighbourhood, do you remember that lady that lives opposite you? The one that makes you wish your husband wasn't lazy?
After all, it's his laziness that makes your lawn look so dry and brown.
You're rolling your eyes now, right?
It irks you a lot that besides her green lawn, her husband just got her a late model luxury car.
Why do you have to drive around in that rickety car, anyway?
Can't that husband of yours be like other men?
Well, did you know that her husband also got the same car AND a pair of diamond earrings for his pregnant girlfriend?
It would just kill you if you were his wife, right? Then, thank God it's not you.

No matter where the sky seems bluer, that's not a permanent thing.

Neither is a grey sky permanent. After the storm, those dark clouds will disappear and the sky would be blue again.
That's the same way an impending storm would cause a blue sky to turn grey.

So it is, for that green lawn.
Sometimes, all you need do is water your own lawn a little bit more, bearing in mind that you have to pay more for water.
Other times, all you need do is just close your eyes to that dry and brown grass and just count your other blessings

Someone would always be smarter.
Someone would always be funnier.
Someone's belly would always be flatter even after having babies.
Someone would always look better in those skinny jeans.
Someone's husband would always look closer to Denzel than yours.
Someone's children would always be better behaved than yours.
Someone would always have a better paying and more satisfying job.
Someone's grass would always be greener and someone's sky would always be bluer.
And for someone else, you are that someone.

No matter where you are and no matter what you go through, learn to close your eyes to all that you think you lack and simply appreciate what you do have.

When you do that often enough, you will come to realize that most of your fears do not look so big anymore.
Trust me, it works :)