Remembering my mother the Day I became an Orphan…

Father was a taciturn man of ideas; the few words from him were pithy phrases, proverbs, and succinct anecdotes. “The reason for your being at the marketplace should always be your reason for being there…Never look at the noise around you,” he repeatedly told the family.

Quietly brilliant and progressive, he could read and write comprehend the Queen’s Language with a broad world view – even without formal education. I can still see his steady handwriting and sign his name. He was a religious leader, spiritual healer, and a very gifted man who accomplished a man through life enrichment with labels. He died very fulfilled on August 14, 2002…Unforgettable.

Mother, I would describe as sometimes challenging, sometimes soft. She had many names; my favorite is Mairam. She suckled me for more than three years, but that never prevented her from pulling me back very hard from the precipice. She would squeeze the ears of stubborn me and finish it with a dirty slap to the back. If those were not enough, stinging songs and dance steps followed. She was a very expressively brilliant princess who knew how to handle all, including fools. I remember this from her: “an elder who came spoilt from home is difficult to repair.”

She didn’t go to school, but she remembered everything from the Hitler War to Queen Elizabeth visited the Gambia on December 3-4, 1961, and she had kept a gift of souvenir of Elizabeth II on a Gambia stamp,1953; to all other major historical events of her era of bloom. She would always warn me: “if your face is dull, never let your inside be dull .” My mother taught me so many other things. One of those things is to, while angry, speak out calmly, or smile, sing and dance, or stroll away – or keep quiet or do Hmmmm.

She lived what she preached.

Mother knew that no matter how bright a day is, it must go back to the home of dusk. She prepared for it.

“I can go home now,” she told me – and added: “It is when all children have grown wise that a mother becomes calm -. That is a line I have refused to forget.

Then, very early in April 2019, she left – died a victorious, happy woman.

Today is the second anniversary of her exit, the Day I became an orphan…

(Child of the owner of one vote. May God overlooks her sins and the sins of all our departed ones; May He grant them Aljannah Fidausi (paradise) and give those of us still living the grace to fulfill our destinies fully. From the Creator we came, unto Him, we shall all return.