Mother: She Does More Than Bear Her Child

On my last birthday, she told me the complete story of my birth; of how she didn’t complete the 9-months cycle and had to be in labour for several days at the hospital. There were no scans then, so she was clueless about expecting twins. My twin came out perfectly but I’d turned yellow from infantile jaundice with the umbilical cord tied round my head. She said I spent several weeks in the incubator and finally came out so small as compared to my twin brother.
Months after, other friends of the family and family members would rather carry my twin than carry me, because I looked small and delicate. How she’s nurtured me to a healthy woman with no life – threatening illnesses still baffles me.

Her sacrifices were one of a kind, most of which I remember vividly. I’ve always wanted to be like her when I grow. Now I’m grown… well, I’m still growing 🙈.

The way she cooks, her OCDs, her heart! My mother’s heart I can proudly say I have, but her patience never seem to recognise itself with me (honestly speaking).

Today, she’ll see me sacrifice in certain ways, get hurt but easy to forgive, and passes comments like, “why did you have to take that trait?”

I’ve seen countless pictures online throughout last week till today, honouring motherhood and womanhood… it’s sweet, perhaps too proper a routine.

I’ll be a mother someday, and it’ll probably be one of the best joys in my life. Other mothers can’t make their daughters and sons feel the same, but I can, undeniably say that my mother is magical. She’s made me who I am today.

I am shedding a few tears right now because I was unable to see her today. She said I should rest home and come see her when I’m better… ‘I know how much you love me, but consider your health first’ was what she said this morning.

Childbearing isn’t mothering. Mothering is a gift, and I’m glad to be honouring it this day.

To all the mothers reading this, you possess supernatural awesomeness.

MOTHER GAVE ME ATTITUDE TODAY

Mother gave me attitude today. Well, the day’s not ended yet. Mother’s giving me attitude today.

Funny.

I’m only moving back to Darkuman, Accra, but will visit home on weekends, mostly, whenever I can; maybe I’ve been by her side so long, what other reason is there? Hah!

I love this woman.

When she starts displaying her love via this ‘attitude’, I find it adorable.

“You know you’ll miss me, right?”, she’ll say, countless times today. Hah! She actually did say that too many times today that it got sad at a point.

This afternoon, right when I psyched up for a nap, she called me to help her out in the kitchen; “chop these onions for me. I’ll make an unforgettable Octopus stew so the next time you’re leaving, you’ll say ‘that stew you made the day before I left home…'”

In the end, she was right. Mother is always right. The Octopus stew we made, which she took all the credit for, was undeniably unforgettable. Period.

Now, about tomorrow, I’ve got some real dirty job to do, literall, cleaning my apartment, I mean. And I’ve already got the flu.

Argh!!

MY PERKY BREASTS ARE MY OWN

Before
Her breasts were her own
To see, to weigh, to handle
Not long before
I came along
I saw, I weighed, I handled

Today
I’m grown
My perky breasts are my own
Her fallen breasts once I handled
Tell mine they’ll fall when I’m old

Photo Credit : Geoffrey Buta
Poem By: Miz Akwele

I’LL BE A MOM TOO

Roses are red
Violets are blue
You never understood why they’re blue
But I still love you

You’ve seen my wrongs
The flaws even I can’t recall
How can I let you go now?
But I still love you

I’ll be a mom
Someday
You make me wanna be a mom
Someday

However
You made it happen
I will
Make it happen, too.

Photo Credit: Bob Pixels Photography (Ghana)

SINGLE? YES… LONELY? NO…

[Photo Credit : Amfo Connolly https://www.behance.net/amfoconnolly

I am not depressed
I think I am a lot of fun
I am happy
Yet I don’t feel joyous either

There are just days I want to be wanted but other days, I don’t want to be bothered. Again, I’m not depressed. Fine, so I don’t know what I want because I can’t tell exactly how I feel, but wouldn’t it be sad to know you’re going through the same ordeal?

Single? Yes.
Lonely? No.
Happy? Yes.
So what’s it? I don’t know…

…wait! I do know. Mother always said, “you need not rush it, they’ll come in their numbers and all you will have to do is make a choice; focus on God, your education and make enough money for yourself first”. As for Father, he kept matching me with his friends’ sons. There was Kwabena who bailed out after 6mths of counselling; he gave the silly excuse of having cold feet. I bet he’s frozen by now.

Some years back, Nii Kwotey moved in with me but that was short-lived when he told me I was self centred and not humble, because, “you think you have it all and you need no one. Let me be a man, Maame, I have my ego”. Of cause I told him I had mine too. That got him packing. I was sad and disappointed but, should I have chased after him? Mother said there would be many.

I kept waiting, even lost track of time, and work became a routine. I love what I do. I’m best at it. I was ok with my life’s routine until this dream.

I shouldn’t have woken up. Now I can only stare at the darkness before me; not the evil scary darkness, far from that, it’s the darkness that begins to linger in the absence of light fading to permit silhouette to dominate the greys. Uhmm… That sounded a bit sinister.

Forget the poetic descriptions.

Last night, Mother gave me a scare that threatened my heart to the core. She said, “you can never be so sure of the man you choose. A man is always a man. He has the higher tendency to cheat on you even if he claims to love you. He will say sorry and do it again, so brace yourself. See your father, did you not grow up with the same situation? Not to scare you, my daughter…” everything else that followed was a distant echo to my ears. Then it struck me, Nii Kotei cheated on me sometime with his ex and still remains friends with her. He said it was because I seem… [stutters] I… Ohh forget it! [sighs]

But he proposed. If that part of me he claims is an issue, why does he want to live the rest of his life with me? And there’s Owuraku who isn’t financially settled but asked me to be his wife too; I love him, but Nii Kotei has it all, and he’s someone I can easily grow on. I like him enough. But Owuraku knows me inside out! Mother wouldn’t want him. Father would say he isn’t qualified. But i’m not the only on marrying him, at the end of the day, both families are uniting.

I shouldn’t be depressed. Some women don’t even have choices. Aaarrgghhhh!!