Golden thoughts

A friend once told me, "The best thing about being with other people's children is that when you're done having fun with them, you can give them back." I had laughed very hard at that. This was because that had been said at a time Ikem had stayed up late at night, refusing to sleep and preferring to watch Barney, instead. Of course, super mummy had to stay up with him, while grumbling about the fact that I needed to get some much-deserved rest. While that had been said as a joke, after I had thought about it, I realized it was something to take very seriously. Growing up, in Nigeria, the extended family system worked just fine. There were grandparents, aunties, uncles and neighbours even who watched out for other people's children. Those that had them were lucky. This was because, even when the parents were not there, a child would still be under the watchful eye of a responsible adult. Children were said to belong to the entire community and not just to th...

Ada didn't believe what she was seeing. Two lines? "How is that even possible?" she thought. "I can't be pregnant. Not now, not just yet." She took another home pregnancy test and another and yet another. Those two lines refused to budge. Suddenly, she felt like her world had just collapsed. Coming out of the bathroom, she went to sit on the bed. "How do I handle this? This is definitely not part of the plan," she thought. “How did this even happen?" She had been using oral contraceptives for three months so when she had started feeling very tired and sleepy for no reason, it hadn't crossed her mind that she could be pregnant. She had only resumed work a month ago so she had thought that had been the reason for the bone-crushing exhaustion she had been experiencing lately. Her husband's cologne had made her nauseous yesterday, as they had dressed for work. It had hit her then that her period had been delayed by over a wee...

                                      "I love you, mummy. You're the best mummy in the whole wide world" Sweet, sweet words from Nwando. She's talked this way for as long as she could talk (and she started doing that really early). So, I'm used to that. We are two of a kind, really... My daughter and I. It IS uncanny how much of a mini me she is. Anyways, hearing these particular words yet again, I looked into the mirror. Nwando loves me very much and in her eyes, except when we're fighting :) , I can do no wrong. She has this complete trust in my mummy skills, a trust I don't always share. For now, mummy is on a pedestal. Would she always think this? When she's older, would she even like this woman staring back at me? Would she admire this woman and still be friends with her? Even when they hold different opinions about anything then, would they respect each other and not be disagr...

I, finally, decided to start blogging today :) It would be a great opportunity to put some of my thoughts down, in writing. I wrote the article below a few weeks ago and it was featured on  a friend's page  I've decided to use it as my maiden post because this particular article, very clearly, defines me. Enjoy.                    ONLY A MOTHER I loved her immediately I knew about her. I prayed for her that instant with tears in my eyes and a goofy grin on my face. A few days later, I saw her on a screen, barely six weeks old but with a heart thumping so strongly already, and I fell in love all over again. Many months later, at the end of a most intimate relationship, I held her in my arms. She was so beautiful, so complete and all mine; my beautiful Nwando. A year and nine months later, I discovered the heart’s immense capacity to love; its expansion to accommodate even more. For the second time, I disco...