When I was a little girl, I thought I had a lot of problems. There were so many things I wanted to do and my mum just didn’t let me. She wouldn’t let me wear certain hairstyles and clothes, wouldn’t let me paint my nails or wear any makeup. I was so mad at her and I did not understand why she did not want me to look “cool”. Every time I brought it up, she would always tell me, :”Amara, there is time for everything. You will one day get tired of all these things you so desperately want.” I’d roll my eyes at her and sulk away, telling myself that she knew not what she was saying.
Fast forward many years later, I have found that every thing my mum said was the truth. All the “grown up” things I so wanted to wear, and see and do have become so trivial, its hard to believe I once begged for the freedom to do them. The clothes and the shoes and the hairdos and the makeup have become the least of my worries these days. There are responsibilities in their stead now. There are bills to pay, grades to keep up, and a thousand of other things that I took for granted while I was a teenager.
I appreciate my mum and all the other grown ups in my life now more than ever, because for the life of me I cannot imagine how they juggle it all and stay sane.
“My mother… she is beautiful, softened at the edges and tempered with a spine of steel. I want to grow old and be like her.”
― Jodi Picoult
Adaugo's Diary 