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Chatty, mischievous and evolving over with time. I am trying to make sense of everything around me and having loads of fun along the way! Oh, I want to be a better person along the way.

Monday, March 23, 2009

My Diamond & I (part 1)

How was your weekend all?

My mum will be 50 this week. As usual I went to ask her what she wanted for her birthday, I think between my dad and us kids we have gotten her all the gifts there is because her birthday and Mother’s day are always in the same week. We thought of what we have never given her and we all came up with nothing.

There I was on her bed and she answered “as long as you kids are happy, I have gotten all I wanted”

I was surprised and I told her we were happy already and she should come up with a serious gift she wants and she insisted that what she said was all she wants.

That statement inspired this post. It made me think of the relationship between us. I have to say she is my closest friend if I exclude my sister. She knows when to be my mother and when to be my friend.

My mother cool like the waters of a spring. I remember whenever things go awry; she is most times the voice of reason. When you want to take a rash decision she comes up with different ideas that would automatically make you change your mind. She has intervened on more than one occasion when my boyfriends misbehave and I complain to her, she makes me see other sides to the situation that I didn’t think of.

My mother strong like the trunk of an Iroko tree [insert laughter]. I remember when I was in secondary school, my school was a 4 hr drive from Lagos, My mum never missed a visiting day, she would drive down those Saturdays and cook all kinds of food. It makes wonder how many hrs she spends making all those. There would be Jollof rice, amala, fried yam, mashed potatoes, fried meat, fish, dodo etc and she was most often than not the first parent to arrive.

She had this flashy red car, once it appears on the express beside the school fence, I would hear people scream my name that my mum was around. The joy that made me feel is still indescribable.

She comes early so she can spend several hours with us before making the journey back.

My mother the working mother. She holds down a powerful job and still managed to raise us. When I see people making a fuss about raising kids and going to work, I wonder how she managed it, there weren’t too many people doing that, because most people we knew then were house wives. She travels all the time and my dad was always on the move too but she always makes time out to be our mother. The times she is around she will drive us to school and gist with us all the way.

I remember all her training courses when she has to travel all over and implement software for all her company locations, she got a moniker for that, I had finished my SSCE then and I was alone at home, she would take me round the locations with her, We used have so much fun. We traveled round Nigeria. We once took a luxurious bus because she wanted me too see the Lokoja bridge.

She was always making chin-chin, kokoro, cookies, fruit punches, so many things I can’t recall their name now at the weekends. To say our bags were always filled to bursting would be understating the obvious.

When I was younger, every party my mum went to, she would bring something back. She would share it equally and as the custom the eldest being me chooses first but really, there was no needs for that because none is bigger than the other so just pick one and forget it.

Every December, when all the neighbours decorate their houses for Christmas, my mum would do ours too so we wouldn’t be left out even though we were Muslims. She understood kids could be cruel and our house would be the most decorated and all the neighbourhood kids would want to come. I was always so proud of that.

I can’t remember a time when she ever embarrassed me.

Once I caught a cousin of mine having sex with her boyfriend. I was six. I told my mum and she explained to me what it was all about and how I should be careful and never let any boy touch me that way until I was an adult. That lesson stuck and I am glad she didn’t take the high road of most parents and shun that topic.

When said cousin got pregnant, I saw the disappointment in my mother’s face and she told me that if my cousin had been careful, she wouldn’t have gotten pregnant. That it was too much too soon.

To be continued...

22 comments:

ShonaVixen said...

Happy Birthday to mumsie!!!!
Last nite with my sister we were chatting about our mum...we started from imagining her pregnant with us carrying us inside her n all...we were both so teary-eyed by the end of that conversation!! MOTHERS ARE GREAT!!!

ShonaVixen said...

and yup I'm FIRST!!!!!

LG said...

loll@red flashy car
happy birthday mumsy

(babes u kno where to send ma cake o :-)
njoy ur day

Confessions of a London gal said...

Claiming my spot

O'Dee said...

Happy bday to your mum.

My mum is turning 50 this year. We are still rubbing minds on how to celebrate her.

Reading about your mum & think about my mum, makes me feel overwhelmed. Dont know if I'll be the bestest mum to my kids.

By Gods grace I should.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday to iya LUscious. She sounds very fascinating and a great Moms.

BSNC said...

wow ur mum is one in a million. happy birthday to mama eknorspeak

miz-cynic said...

I love ur mom and i wish i'd become tht kind of mom....the kind my kids can come to with any problem.

Rebirth said...

awww ur mum sounds so cool...... Happy Birthday to her....

Anonymous said...

eeeeyaaa......your mom is the bomb oh....I wish her many happy returns and many more years filled with joy and happiness

Nigerian Drama Queen said...

It sounds like your mum is an amazing she-roe! Happy Birthday to her.
This post was beautiful in it's organization and sentiment. "My mother, strong like the iroko tree"-I like that.

Blogoratti said...

Beautiful story,beautiful you,beautiful her!

Afrobabe said...

Awwww your mum sounds like a great woman and she is truely lucky if the rest of her kids are like you...

Happy birthday to her...

gosh I love the image of her in her red car..probably with a scarf flyin rom her neck...

Anonymous said...

sounds like a real engaged mum....friend and mother.... unfortuantely not everyobe has had that opportunity.. Good to see that you/your peeps are giving her the appreciation she deserves...

Nefertiti said...

this is so beautiful, ron! I especially like My mother, strong like the branches of an iroko tree. You should consider urslef blessed. I wished with all my heart that I had a mom as cool as urs when I was much younger. As time went by tho, I came to understand, appreciate and love my own mom.

Happy Birthday, mom.

Blanche Truffle said...

Touching tales! Happy birthday to her mum...

:D

Kafo said...

this reminded mii of home

beautiful

SOLOMONSYDELLE said...

happy bday to your wonderful mom!!!!

I like the approach she took in dealing with the sex issue. I hope I can remain that calm and turn such a situation into a concrete learning opportunity for my children.

Again, happy bday to your mom!

mizchif said...

Happy Birthday to your mummy!
I love ur mummy too. She sounds terrific.
Can't wait to do my own mummy post!

Buttercup said...

She sure sounds wonderful. Happy birthday mama lusciousron!

Have u guys finally decided on what to get her?

Parakeet said...

Aww...Happy bday to your mum. Hope she had fun. I like the bit where you described your mum's strength as that of the trunk of an iroko tree. Genius.

Vera Ezimora said...

Awwww. Momsie sounds likea gem. Goodness, mothers can never be compensated. How can they ever be? Dem too much! My regards to mama lawyer ooo. Tell her her daughter is one heck of a lawyer.