“To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, You have to be in their lives today.”
― Barbara Johnson

Wow, thirteen years ago today she came into the world, my angel.   I never really knew then how profoundly she would change my life, my world and all my perspectives of every value and belief that I had.  Now I try to hold on to every single moment that I can, I feel that she is slipping through my fingers each and every day, more rapidly than the day before.  She said to me at breakfast today “mummy, you have been in my life since I was born” and I have, from birth to 13 and beyond.  I am in awe of this wondrous creature that I call my Angel, how she has grown and changed and the spectrum of emotions she can invoke in me. Am not sure there is another person alive who can take me from delight to despair and back to delight again with the span of seconds.

I love her and love that since she entered my life I have grown in ways I did not know possible.  The humility and perseverance I have had to cultivate and the patience that comes with the parenting territory.  The unconditional love that goes without saying and the anguish and pain that one endures, all of these are a part of me now, like battle scars worn with pride and give me the status of being a mom.  One thing that I have come away with is that without putting in the time, all of it is for naught.  I feel because I am present, I do because it makes sense to me and is a sum of all my experiences.  The sleepless nights all beginning from the point of conception; the 9 months really are a sampling of what is to come in the years after birth; the discomfort that we undergo as women and the pain that labour brings, all of it a preparation for the future an appetizer for things to happen.

With the bad comes the good, the pure awe of the wondrous ability we have as women to carry a baby to term and give birth to a perfect, albeit petite, human being. The excitement that each kick brings as they grow inside of us, and the pure wondrous joy as we see the grace of God in the newborn child.  Then the marathon begins, more sleepless nights, worse if the child has colic and endless nappy or diaper changes, the breast-feeding for those who opt and so on, all before their first birthday.  It goes from bad to worse, at all times testing our patience beyond comprehension, yet I believe that if we commit to putting in the woman hours, we slowly build a foundation for these wondrous creatures that God has tasked us to guide.

The awesome thing is that no matter how much we look back and try to remember, we never can re-live the pain and discomfort of pregnancy and childbirth, we can however recall every funny moment, every cheeky smile, sometimes even the tinkle of their laughter as they giggle and frolic in their infancy.

Today after she went off to school I sat down at the dining table and reminisced with quiet contentment on our past 13 years and contemplated the next 13 years with great excitement and anticipation.  I am grateful to be her guide in life and I commit now as I committed then all those years ago,  to do my very best and put in the necessary woman hours without complaint and regret. This time that we invest I believe will surely ensure that though the road which may seem laden with rocks, it can be traversed with ease; because she will know where the blind spots are, and how to maneuver over, around, under or through any mountain or other such obstacles that may be put in her path, as she progresses in this journey we call life!