My mother is 58 years old. She is a beautiful, light complexioned 5”7 inches tall lady.
For the longest time that I have known her (now my 29th year) she has always been the embodiment of endurance and silent strength. I am the 5th of 7 children
My most vivid memory of her is seeing her dressed in a white starched cotton dress…you guessed right! She was a nurse and I remember her being home at odd hours sometimes at night others in the mornings and others in the afternoon…I learnt pretty early what ‘shifts’ meant due to her erratic hours of working.
My mum was the disciplinarian at home as my dad is a man who barks louder than he bites. Still does…. the gentle old man…still does! I remember her singing merry songs for me or one of my siblings to swallow food. Now, you cannot believe the sizes of us and yet we are the children who would have food in the mouth for 30 minutes without swallowing or chewing... a dribble coursing down our mouth!
She would be quite a disciplinarian when she got round to it although she always gave us fair warning and on the third turn she would threaten with a finger pointing the culprit’s direction
“ I will unleash on you the beating of the century" and with that I or my sister’s would know that the forty days of Ali Baba were up! Birthdays & Christmas were always a festive occasion with lots of food. At the age of 5 having a choice between a tray full of an assortment of sweets, biscuits and cake... Oh! How dare I forget lots of soda! The best part about it was that there were no warnings of you will catch a cold if you drink any more soda on those special occasions. Believe me being brought up by a nurse had its bad side… if you look at it from a 10 year old’s point of view. ;o)
In 1980 when I was only four years old my dad suffered a stroke and was hospitalized for 3 months. I was young but can remember that my mother carried on….then very pregnant with my baby sister. Just recently, I learnt that she had shuttled between visiting her husband in hospital, changed shifts to night duty only, which left her days free. Days which she slept for 2 hours at most and got home in time to battle with the ever present problems of house helps. Oh, did I forget to mention she still had 5 children looking up at her for love and mostly…. Laughter and song. But she managed, somehow. When my dad was discharged he was a shadow of his old self. He had darkened and used a cane to assist him walk. My Mum become his personal nurse and tutor reminding of basic things like orrecting him when he mixed our names and called us by his sisters’ names. My dad recuperated much to the amazement of everyone including his mum who had given up on the thought that he would get discharged.
My mother is a born again Christian, she draws her strength from her faith in the person of Jesus Christ. My mother does not conform to society and fashion trends... she will not wear a skirt that is anyway close to her knees, her skirts are almost ankle high! Her blouses not too low, she always dots a scarf on her neck, lest you get a peek of her cleavage! She smiles easily just as she cries easily... now you know where i got that streak from!
This is my tribute to my darling Mum who is my heroine.
“God could not be everywhere and therefore He made mothers. “
- Jewish Proverb
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