Tough Love

When my sister was in nursery school, she used to come home with scratches on her arms from where a bully in her class had scratched her. Once she complained to our Mama. Mama got mad.

She asked, “Is X in your class?”

Sis replied, “Yes”

“Is he bigger than you?

“No”

She asked her, “So why didn’t you scratch him back? Next time you go to school and X scratches you again, and you don’t scratch him back with all you’ve got, I will punish you!”

My sister was petrified. Next day rolls around. Lo and behold, X scratches her. She was scared. Scared of X and scared that if she didn’t scratch back Mama would spank her. She hesitated. Which did she fear more, Mama or X? No brainer.

With that she pounced on X scratched his face, his arms, his legs. He wasn’t stronger after all! He ran away crying and never scratched her again. Mama gave her a treat when she came back home!

I recently asked her about it and she said it was because she can’t fight all her children’s battles for them. It was a valuable lesson to teach them to fight back. Maybe one day I will see her point of view. Or maybe not.

Last Lap

I have ran

I have faltered

I have ran again

Now, to the last lap

The race seems tougher

Yet, it must be finished

Not finished first or faster

Just finished

The prize is so near

So with weary legs and feet like lead

I need a rest but trudge on

Damn, I need to finish this race.

Girl’s story

So after I try to avoid looking at the breast feeding going on to my left, I’m but left with my right to look at. Now, this late teens/early twenties lady sitting by me is clearly in pain. But she seems so focused on her phone, tapping away at her keypad ferociously. I try not to steal glances at it, but I’m intrigued. What could be so important that it surpasses toothache? I didn’t have to wonder for long. Because she tapped my arm a few minutes later and said to me,

“Miss, can you please read this and see if it makes any sense?”

So I take the phone and read it, it’s a long jumbled up text and you guessed right, the text was to her boyfriend/love interest. The import of the text was, he wasn’t treating her right, someday someone will do so, she will then leave and he will look for her but not find her. But there were some proverbs and wise sayings laced in. Go figure.

Another shock! Is she really worrying about a boy when she had a toothache? (Mind you, my reaction would be the same if it was a boy worrying about a girl.) What happened to the akan saying about “kakaw, ayεmukaw nna εkaw (tr: toothache, stomachache and debt) being the three most painful things in the world? This girl has proved it so wrong! Or maybe not.

Boob food

My wisdom tooth woes, has taken me back to the doctor with the drills. At least I didn’t have to go to the one with the sullen secretary ;-). So I found a seat in the waiting room and tried to relax. I’m sandwiched between two women, a nursing? mother and a heartbroken? girl. (The girl’s story will come later).

At first, the nursing mother seemed like a woman with a toddler. The little girl on her lap was busily munching on crispy plantain chips. That should tell me she has, at least her premolars present. Now this little girl must have become rather thirsty all of a sudden because she stopped chewing, popped open a couple on Mama’s shirt buttons and shoved an exposed breast into her mouth and sucked away! Boy, my jaw dropped!

Now my shock does not come from breastfeeding in public, not at all. It comes from the age of the child. The child has enough coordination to unbutton a shirt and enough teeth to chew plantain chips. How about some good old water or orange juice? Or am I the only one who finds this almost unsettling?

1000 Apologies

For my absence

For my neglect

And for 'Savvy-starving' you.

... I'm back!