30 Years...and counting

So my parents clocked 30 years of "for better for worse" today. For them it’s been 30 long years of love and war, of smiles and tears and of hope and despair. I have watched them through my own 20-something years and I have observed that the younger generation still has so much to learn about the true meaning of marital commitment and staying true to the one you promised to love till death do you part.

Its been a rosy ride (yep, cos roses have thorns) and i can remember particular incidences that made me ask questions at those times. But still those two stayed together...sometimes like glue and sometimes like gum and sometimes it might as well have been water holding them, but they stayed.

My parent’s children (including yours truly) are all grown up and away from home now and so the house is back to the way it was some 30 years ago before the intruders came in, before the bills increased, before the sound of laughter or cries or music blasting could be heard from afar off, before time changed everything…the house is now occupied with the original two people, now with more grey hair, now with more wrinkles, now not as active as before (especially in disciplining children) and now better listeners.

Only recently, my mum wanted the recipe for "chin-chin" (Y'all know what that is, right?). She called to ask for it saying it’s been ages since she had to do any kind of pastry making (not quite her fault, seeing she has 4 daughters). My sister and I jokingly recommended that she mixed the dough while her husband cut it up into small shapes for her to fry. The image of them sweating it out left me in stitches.

And that’s how this post was born.

So today I’m dedicating this piece to my folks. I don’t know if they’ll ever get to read this or if they’ll ever know I even wrote this but I want to say thank you

~ for staying together

~for showing me that marriage is not convenience but a commitment

~for teaching me the joy of family

~for not holding back the rod from me (i'd have turned out really terrible..i'm sure!)

~for letting me know that home is more than a location, it’s a place I can be myself and be accepted the way I am

~for making my worries yours and reminding me that you’re there

I know it might sound like a cliché but if I have to come back to earth again after i'm gone…I’d ask for this same set of parents (well maybe with more money especially…lol)

So i'll sing like Style Plus "...30 years don waka...dem stil dey carry go, nobody waka nobody go solo...papa God o, their case o, na your grace o...Imela eh"

My Gabrielle...

I still remember the first contact we had

Funny thing was you were still within the protective "container" of your mum's womb

But you "kicked" and my hand was there expecting to feel you

And i did....

Oh! what a beautiful feeling

I remember the first time i saw a picture of you

It was an ultra-sound scan (yes it was!)

Immediately i set my eyes on it, i knew you'd be a girl

Although you were still about 5months then

But you already had a pose

(Talk about one classy foetus....lol)

Finally you came to us....after all the anxiety and faith-filled prayers

You came in all your beauty and grace

Gabrielle....beautiful name...you are a beauty to behold

I look at you and i see a beautiful girl

When i say beautiful, i mean a beautiful spirit and a beautiful body

Like a cornerstone polished after the resemblance of a palace

I can't wait to hold you and feel you in my arms...

Change your diapers (yes, anything for you)

Feed you and rock you to sleep (my best part)

I can't wait to make you smile

Or hear you chuckle

Or even your cries...

Gabrielle...The Lord is my strength

Gabrielle...My beautiful niece

My Sister

She needed to get a new hair do and a manicure too,
suddenly her old shoes are not good enough and she must get new ones,
new shirts, may a blazer or two, skirt suits or trousers,
a new wallet.....anything new would do.



My sister resumed work today and i could just feel the excitement all around her as she walked around to ensure everything was in the right order; the make up, the clothes, the everything.



She wants to make a good impression, she even wants to be the employee of the year at the end of the financial year...She'd make new friends, impress her boss, everyone would love her.She is armed with dreams in one hand and aspirations in the other as she finally begins her journey into the corporate world (she'd done so many tests and interviews in the past 6 months after NYSC, i suggested she wrote a book on job interviews)


She could hardly sleep the night before...ironed her clothes till they came alive, polished her new shoes(again) , everything even her undies all had an inkling of the fact that something new was happening.
Am happy for my sister and so is every other member of the family and am hoping and praying in my heart that in the months that will follow, she will have neither regrets nor rueful feelings

My sister, this piece is dedicated to you and to you alone (my first dedication). I hope you enjoy your new place and make the best out of it because i believe it is going to be a stepping stone to greater things that lie ahead; and of course now that you'd be earning some cash, am really happy to be at the receiving end.