Tag Archive | mother

Sacrifices

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A child is born

And brings much joy

But the mother makes many sacrifices

The sleepless nights

The fatigue and feeling overwhelmed 

Her priority becomes her child

The child grows

And in each stage of growth

There are challenges 

And the mother learns and grows as well 

The teen years are the time the child

Tries to be their own person

And their life starts to separate from that of the mother

Early adulthood are sweet years

The independent child becomes a friend 

A helpmate, a confidant 

And then it’s time for the child to leave 

To start their own journey in life 

And the mother once again must sacrifice 

The bonds she has carefully created over the years

Must stretch somewhat 

The distance between her and her child has to grow 

But the mother’s soul will always be close 

To that of her child

Her thoughts will be with him/her

Her love will go on 

April 30, 2023

On my mother’s back

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I am the baby on my mother’s back

I still sport a baby-do

My mother is a proud African woman

She feels secure and self-assured

She carries me on her back and a bowl on her head

She can do many things at once

She holds her head up 

As if saying, I’ve got this baby

Stay close to me and I will take care of you 

The world can be a scary place sometimes

But It it full of loving people too 

We rely on the goodness of others

We rely on the spirit of our ancestors

And we take one strong step after another 

On this journey called life

It is OK to be scared sometimes

It is OK to feel pain and sorrow

Those things are part of life too

But for now, I’m here for you 

To help you and support you and love you

At the beginning of your journey when you need my strength 

November 10th, 2022

Letting go

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My responsibly as a mother is the eduction of my children

I’ve been doing that for years now

In a way that is familiar to me

With them close by 

But as they get older

Their education will come from places outside the home

And I need to let go

They will be around less often

But they are on their path of learning and experiencing new things

I won’t be involved in their day to day life

But I will be there to support and encourage them

Their mode of development has changed

They need the input of the society at large

And by letting go 

I’m allowing them to continue to grow

August 9th, 2021

Mothers

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Motherhood

The best school in life

The lessons we learn are invaluable

Motherhood

Not always easy

But it changes us in ways that are unimaginable

Motherhood

Commitment to our little ones

Putting their needs first

Motherhood

Teaches us lessons in

Perseverance and patience

Motherhood

Our chance to train the next generation

 

Black and brown

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Natasha and I are sitting side by side

Talking about organizing the storage space in our house

Growing an indoor herb garden

And cleaning out parts of her room

 

She is very talkative and not on her phone

And we are chatting it up

But you wouldn’t want to see us now 

Or take our photograph

 

We are sitting side by side in the hair salon

With color on our hair 

She is going from brown to black

And I’m going from black to brown

The grass is always greener on the other side

January 24th, 2019

Mothering

A mother’s work is not glamorous
No need to dress up for work
No chit chat at the water cooler
No breakfast meetings or lunches out

A mother’s work is repetitive
What was washed before needs to be washed again
The same advice needs to be repeated
The same routine, each day

One never really gets a promotion
Even though the challenges always change
One is not materially compensated
Even though one works day after day

Sick days don’t exist
Holidays are more busy sometimes
The same errands and
The same activities day in day out
Can test one’s patience after a while

The work of the mother as educator
Is invaluable of course
Nurturing, loving, encouraging, consoling and more
But often that’s taken for granted
That’s after all what mothers should do

The creativity that goes into problem solving
On this job, is overlooked
Mothers are doing what mothers must do

A mother’s contribution to society
Is often not appreciated
Especially if she doesn’t work outside the home

But let’s consider what the world would be like
If mothers did not do what mothers do…
March 10th, 2016