One year on…

Its been one year since she breathe her last, and crossed over from this side of eternity. I still find it surreal, like a very bad dream I would wake up from very soon.

I find myself periodically going back to our whats app chats, while hoping to get just another message even if it is a ”why are you not picking your calls”, or those long broadcast messages she so much loved to send.

I won’t deny, it’s been hard and it has not gotten better, don’t know if it will ever will.

Many times I needed to call her up and pour out my heart in a Judgement free zone, knowing fully well that somehow the Holy spirit had revealed whatever it was to her and she was just waiting for me to come to her…i.e if she does not call me first.

There was no hiding anything from her, even if I wanted to.

I miss her everyday, some days more than others. But Like all the wonderful things I learnt from having her as a mum, I remain grateful for the time we had together.

And as much as I would like to stay in bed and throw myself a pity party, because right now I am really tempted to do just that, that not what my mama would want.

So Instead, I am going to celebrate her life, by writing about some things I loved about Maureen Emuobome Muagba nee Olotu.

‘To live is Christ and to die is gain’ Phil 1 v 21

 

#You couldn’t put her in a corner, you couldn’t label her, you couldn’t define her

The world would always want to put you in a corner, But no, not mama. You can be anything and do anything literally was her motto. My mama had this extra pep and confidence that was just indescribable. Anywhere she went, you definitely would feel her presence.

It was not just in the words she spoke but it was the way and manner she carried herself. She could not be intimated.

She walked boldly into any office that needed walking into, and almost always succeeded in charming whoever it was to do what she needed to get done.

There are many incidences that come to mind, but I am just going to highlight one.

The first time I traveled, my mum and others went with me to the airport. Unfortunately at some point, anyone who wasn’t travelling, was not allowed to go past a certain perimeter.

I was already getting anxious, because the flight wasn’t leaving until about an hours time, and I was not looking forward to waiting alone.

I had a million and one thoughts running through my mind, and as much as I was happy that I was going to experience life in a foreign land, I was not ready to be separated just yet, I needed that extra one hour with familiar faces.

How she did, I don’t know, but she was the only one allowed into the passenger waiting room, and there we sat together taking pictures until it was time to go.

 

# Kind, emphatic, and selfless

Many times, we have come running to my mum because we thought she was in some kind of trouble. But no, she is probably crying because something bad, has happened to some random stranger she knows nothing about.

My mum wasn’t so much into football, but she supported whatever causes we supported, and it did not help that everyone else in my house loved watching football, so she would come and pray on the legs of the players of the team we were supporting, so that they would score. I found that funny

She lived completely for others and for her, if everyone else was fine, she was fine.

We would tease her, because she always succeeded in carrying people’s problem on her head, many of whom did not know the lengths she went, to ensure that everything was fine with them.

Don’t just let my mum witness any form of injustice going on, she would step right in. Several times, If I was with her, I would walk far away, because I did not not want to be caught up in the whole shebang.

I would say she did not have a selfish bone in her, and even till death, she was still looking out for the well being of those around her.

 

# Protective, trusting, positive and a believer

Like a mother hen, watching over her chicks, she was very protective, sometimes to a fault. She knew the world is crazy, and somehow she felt she could protect those she loved from the evils of the world.

If she trusted you, she did it with all of her heart, and you can be killing her, and she would still trust you.

Now, if she did not trust you, then sorry is your case. I overhead her telling a lady once, that if she told her(my mama) to run, she would stay, and if she told her to stay, she would run.

I laughed so hard, because she said it to her face, and that was that.

She was a strong believer in God.

She was a believer in our dreams.

She was a believer in things always turning out right at end, and she was a believer that God works out all things for our good.

That was one reason, when she died, that I was confused on why God took her. But God and I have settled that now.

 

# If anything was worth doing, it needed to be done well

There were no half measures with my mama. You were either in or out and if you are in, then you got to put your back into it.

Anything she set to do, she did it well and she did it thoroughly. To me, She was the president of the prim, proper and posh club.

 

#There was no guile in her.

What you saw is what you got.

 

#Homemaker, working mum, pastor’s wife

My mama combined these three together and did it gracefully. Sometimes, I don’t know how she managed it, because it sure was a lot of responsibility.

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I could go on and on and on…

Sure, we had our fights, but many times even as a child, she would come up to me and apologize if she felt, she had wronged me.

She wasn’t perfect but she was perfection to me.

She was a woman of valor, a woman of virtue, “Many daughters have done well, But you excel them all.”

Love you mama and thank you for being my mum.