MUM STORIES: My mother is a superwoman

Linda Boiyo and her mum Joy. Linda says her mum is a superwoman. PHOTO| COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • More often than not, she asks me about my relationships. And we talk for hours on end about everything in between.
  • She’s my best friend, my make-up artist, my pastor, my disciplinarian and at one time, she was my roommate.
  • Please follow the Twitter hashtag for more stories like this.

My mother is a superwoman because there is nothing she won’t do for her five children.

I used to idolize her when growing up. She seemed like she had everything under control. Our clothes were always washed and pressed and the house smelt like bleach and vinegar. On Sunday mornings, she would be up by 4am to make us mean chapatis. She did this every single Sunday of the year.

She had a big heart and our house was always full of relatives. We always had a cousin or an aunt living with us. That taught me to be selfless as it was something I had to cultivate at a very tender age.

She did crack the whip on us and it’s safe to say we turned out alright. She had a funny way of making us laugh right after a good spanking by telling us to spit on her hand. I still don’t know why she did it but we almost always ended up laughing too hard after that.

As a teenager, we fought countless times. I was trying to find myself and she was patient with me until I came back running to her arms because she was the only one who truly loved me.

I am no longer a child, I am a woman old enough to have my own kids but I am still a child in her eyes. She still wipes my face in public with her saliva and she still lets me live and work 600 miles away from her.

LOST THE LOVE OF HER LIFE

She has known pain and rejection. Losing the love of her life to kidney failure was the lowest point of her life. Her tears and terrible loss cut right though my heart but she is still here. Still smiling.

Her devotion to the church paved a way for us to believe His grace is sufficient for us. Sometimes my siblings and I joke that maybe our mama is the only angel walking on earth. She is to us.

Of course she’s the best cook. Everyone thinks their mum is and I do so too.

More often than not, she asks me about my relationships. And we talk for hours on end about everything in between. She’s my best friend, my make-up artist, my pastor, my disciplinarian and at one time, she was my roommate. Yes.

Above all else, she chose to have me. And my siblings. She chose my dad. And she might have not chosen the life we had, but they did the best she could with what little they had. Not a day goes by without being forever grateful for the sacrifices she made.

I don’t know if there is any form of love that can surpass a mother’s love.

Every time we ask her how she did it, her answer has never changed ‘’it is God’’.  I look at her now and wonder how one person can have so much to give until she was left bare but still had the same joy in her heart.

Nothing I can do will ever be enough to pay her for all she gave up for us and I do not intend on doing that. All I can do is love her and tell her so every day and not just on Mother’s Day.

Mama Joy, I love you today and forever.

Love,

Linda.

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