Happy Birthday to My Wonderful Mother!

Below is the status I put up on Facebook today:

Ma, on your birthday, I celebrate you being you, my extraordinary mother.
You have made such a difference, created so much good in my life!
I celebrate your smart mothering, your boundless physical and emotional energy; loving me, leading me, supporting me, lifting me when I fall.
On your birthday, Ma, I celebrate the best thing about my life...having you as my mother, a mother like the one I want to be.

I don't want to go on and on about how great she is because well simply put: she is. She is the best mother I could have ever imagined. I tell myself almost every day how lucky my siblings and I are to be borne by her; we are all sooo blessed to have her in our lives.

She loves her family unconditionally. She is and will always be the mom I hope I am when I have my kiddibubs. I have appreciated her more as I have grown older and gotten married myself. I tell you, as a parent your job doesn’t end when your child marries; it just shifts into a whole new gear/dimension in which you need serious tact, mediation and arbitration skills. And my oh my Olivia Ofei has done herself proud in her new role as mother to a young married woman and mother-in-law. She is always there with a kind ear; well she is also able to seriously tell me off when I’m out of line. Thanks to her, I’ve not had to cook any banku even though my husband loves it; freshly cooked banku in a food warmer is transported from Sakumono to Ashalley Botwe on a regular basis. The only fufu that has been pounded in my house was arranged by her when she came over for a few days during the New Year.

I have had a couple of rough moments in the past couple of years and on each occasion, she has come over to stay and take care of me without a word of complaint! She just does this mothering thing so well and makes being a working mother seem so effortless! No wonder I always say that when I grow up I want to be like my Mama, never mind that I’m past 30 years of age. I still don’t think I’m half the woman she was at my age. She was a mother of 4 with 2 stepchildren and a husband who worked out of the country by the time she was 30! I just don’t know how she did it!

She has this knack of getting people (both young and old, in fact more young) to feel comfortable around her. My friends get on marvelously well with her, they think she is a riot and a half but I always say: “well different if she is your mother”. Because, as much as she would laugh and share the latest celeb gossip with me, the next minute, I’m being grounded and slagged off proper for misconduct. You always know where you stand with her; classic case of ‘what you see is what you get’. She never minces her words and always says it like it is. That is one trait I’ve picked up from her; I’d like to think I’m without much pretense; life is soo much simpler like that.

She is also sooo smart; she was the smartest as a child among her siblings of 5. And even now, she still amazes me with her knowledge of current world affairs. Of course it helps that her bedside radio is permanently tuned in to BBC World Service; she sleeps and wakes up to it. She is aware she knows and is usually ready to offer her opinionJ!

I mean how did she do it raising us and how does she still do it now? How can you explain that her 4 kids ranging in age from 30 to 22 call her first for any piece of advice? You will think these will be the times when we are off living our lives and making our own decisions and being all grown-up. She is sooo down-earth, has a naturally enquiring and discerning mind, loves reading and working out puzzles. The best and most appreciated gift to her is never anything expensive and elaborate but a book of crossword puzzles and cheap tabloid celeb-gossip filled magazines. She can tell you where Anjelina Jolie and Bard Pitt holidayed at last summer and whats up in Eastenders! LOL! And she is ever sooo grateful, one thing I love about her! The morning after you give this woman something, she will call you to say thank you. Olivia Ofei (nee Siameh-Mensah) is not just a wonder mother but a decent human being.

So before this entry starts sounding like a tribute to a dead person, in a nutshell, my mother is pretty stinking amazing and I love her soooo much! I look forward to many more years with her and I just can’t wait to see her hanging out with her grandkids! I sooo want my kids to have the privilege of knowing this amazing human being!