I stumbled over this old piece today, after I'd tried on my Winter Coat, spot the connection with this piece of writing.
Wrapping Paper©
By Michael Casey
I was in Aldi and I spotted Winnie the Pooh wrapping
paper, my smallest girl just loves all things Winnie the Pooh, so I got the
paper. I wasn’t sure whether to wrap her Birthday present in it or just let her
have the paper. In the end I gave her the paper to play with. She was
delighted, immediately she wanted to use the wrapping paper to wallpaper the
walls with. As I’ve said before she once said she liked Winnie the Pooh because
his belly reminded her of my belly. Such is a child’s love, unflattering but
love.
It
did get me thinking though, why do we need wrapping paper? Packaging is part
and parcel of ordinary life. Easter eggs
are the thing with the most packaging, so much packaging and then so little
chocolate. My mother gave up on Easter Eggs because of the cost, there were so
many of us Caseys after all. So we had bars of Cadburys chocolate instead, the
Cadburys factory is just a couple of
miles from where I’m sitting. Easter came and we devoured the Cadburys bars,
cheaper than the Easter Eggs but so very tasty.
People
have wrapping paper or layers all around them, we can all remember what Donkey
said to Shrek, so many layers like an onion. At the moment I’m dressing up in
the wrapping paper called a “suit”, so that I can get a new job. So people can
see me at my best, hide my tummy and hope they forgive my premature white head
of hair, as for my bushy eyebrows God alone knows what they may think. You can
judge for yourselves by clicking on the photos on this site. How much do you
reveal, how much do you hide as you have an unnatural experience that is called
an interview. Perhaps interviews should take place in a coffee shop, as you may
know LLoyds of London started in a London coffee shop 100s of years ago. Even
better interviews could be held in a bar. You have two pints to prove your
worth, so don’t spill the peanuts over the interviewer’s haute couture dress.
Perhaps then at the 2nd interview you have to sing karaoke with the 2
interviewers, and IF you can sing My Way word perfect then you get the job. It
sure would be more fun.
More
wrapping paper is used when we are embarrassed or too shy to explain things to
our doctor, we waste 5 mins talking about the weather and the Fall leaves
before we finally blurt out that its a boil on the bum or something below the
waistline. And why is it that on these occasions the doctor on call is one of
the opposite sex, why can’t it be your usual doctor.
Wrapping
paper is used an awful lot in Faith, we lie to ourselves and our God/Gods by
thinking we don’t have to do this or we don’t have to do that. Faith can become
a Buffet, we lie to ourselves and God, this bit does not matter, so we’ll show
God only so much of ourselves. A bit like cheating in an exam. I’m sure God’s smiling as he watches us, perhaps the
Saints place bets on who will finally come clean, clean being the operative
word. The Saints queue up ready to intervene, which 999 or 911 call will come
though so that a Saint can be dispatched. I know in1996 when my mum had died
suddenly and then 8 bare weeks later my dad was given 1 week to live, we
actually picked the hymns for his funeral he was so bad. Then all the layers,
all the wrapping paper was off, Padre Pio came to the rescue. So that I met my
wife in the old peoples’ home, 3 years after my dad came back from the dead.
Dad lived long enough to hold his grand daughter in his arms, 5.5 years after
that massive heart attack.
The
ultimate wrapping paper is love, its hard to say you love somebody when your
heart has been broken so many times before. Its hard to take a chance when
somebody might laugh in your face. Slowly you reveal one thing, then another,
then another, yes I can see the idea of
a Monty Python joke as I write this. I do write comedy after all. But when 2
strangers become friends, when 2 become one, then all the wrapping paper is
off. She may not mind your hairy back or fat stomach, he may not mind her big
feet or whatever she feared. It can turn out that what one thinks is ugly your Love may find attractive.
Love is Blind after all, Love conquers All, Love is all you need. Together
naked, the wrapping paper is discarded.
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