There’s no good English word for “dwaal”. It doesn’t mean dream, or daze. It’s close to absent-mindedness, but that’s not quite it. [Source]

   Dabelle’s Dwaal

Hey Debs

How are you? Its been so long since we saw each other. I had the strangest experience yesterday that I just had to share with you and it was a good reason to get in touch!

I’d just finished eating my lunch, so I was feeling that post-eating feeling – sleepy and wanting to sleep. I picked up my camera, absently thinking I would take a photo of something to keep awake. I ended up wandering around the house in a dwaal, you know, not really aware of anything or doing anything specific.

I drifted into the bathroom and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My first instinct was to take a photograph of myself. As you know, I do this kind of nutty thing often. But then I looked closer at my reflection. I studied myself as I’ve not done for a long time. And I had this thought…

“The girl in the mirror wasn’t who I wanted to be and her life wasn’t the one I wanted to have.” [Francesca Lia Block, Pink Smog]

I shook my head and within moments, the fleeting thought was gone. But the feeling of being not quite comfortable stayed with me. Who did I want to be and what was wrong with my life? I’ve always been quite happy with myself, my exciting job and my life. What had I been thinking? Perhaps it was the mirror that bewildered me? I wonder if you have ever felt the same?

Hoping to see you soon for a catchup and to discuss this weirdness!

Lots of love, Dabelle

PS: here’s the photo I took of myself in my dwaal state!

The South African word of the day

dwaal: – noun and verb, informal. Lack of concentration or focus. From the Afrikaans for err, wander or roam.

• Noun: “Sorry, I was in a bit of a dwaal. Could you repeat that?”
• Verb: “I was dwaaling down the street, going nowhere.”

For the letter D of the April A to Z Blogging Challenge combining stories about my Lego photographer friend Dabelle and a South African word.

Have you ever had the same experience as Dabelle? Or any other strange experiences when looking in a mirror? 

Proudly part of the 

PS:

• To read all my A to Z posts, click on the Dibzen-AtoZChallenge tag.
• This is also a post inspired by Day 8 of the Everyday Inspiration course