HI MUM!

Hello Mum,

been a while since I wrote you a letter, actually must have been when I was in Secondary School when Mr Taylor used to make me write a lot because he thought I could write well. There was no internet then and most definitely, no Facebook! I must have written you so many letters then and driven you crazy with inane gists. Who cared if we were being served beans twice a week and I didn't like it. Boarding School is just that, not home! Anyway, I digress. 

How are you doing? I sure hope you are good and enjoying yonder. I imagine it sometimes and even though I would like to see it, I would also like to finish my course here, plus the girls need me, I think. 

Ah! The girls, they miss you, I don't make it easier by having a picture of you on my bed side table, so they constantly see your face but I need it. Sometimes, I wake up and I am afraid I can't or won't be able to remember what you look like and so this is a simple solution. I am sure B hates it but he wont say anything, he better not!

Ah! Bola, he was scandalized at receiving a mail from you this week! He wrote me an e-mail about it and I assured him you were up to no tricks. He was not sure how to broach the matter, citing my heart-brokenness, so he sent an e-mail, you sha know him, your favorite son-in-law.

As for me, I still have good and bad days when you cross my mind, I am sure I will see you again and I am trying to be good to make sure it happens. I know you always thought I was lunatick but I am truly not (am sure you KNOW now!) and I truly did not make it my life's work to make relating with me hard. I just am complex and even I am still discovering bits of me daily.

I miss you, more than I thought possible. I know you know how detached I can be because you always complained about that but being in the US and being able to communicate especially those long talks when I felt like walking home from work and the shopping advice every time I went to get groceries was very good. Those are cherished. I do not regret those difficult talks either, about your son and how you related with him. Just keep reminding our guardian angels about looking out for us all, especially sis (cos Yorubas say 'oku olomo kii sun'). 

I don't have a lot to say other than that we all are well, as you probably know and can see. I hope you know better than to try and make me get together with people I don't want anything to do with and if that was the reason you sent me the mail, you can stop that right now. I am not doing it! At least, not till I am good and ready and by that, I mean, probably not this year. End of story!

Now about the guy whose hand you used to send the mail, please forgive him, he did not mean to scare either me or the numerous people he sent the same mail to or he forgot to switch to his own e-mail account after he hacked yours (no, you gave him your password now!) and tried to get your account details and failed. Forgive him. Do not take up residence in his house and scare him or anything like that. And especially do not go into his kitchen and move things around! I am sure he will soon get a job and stop all this 419 business. Its just that jobs entail real work and some people are just not cut out for such, so please forgive him.

I am hopeful that our correspondence will be limited from now on and so I wanted to say again, how much I love you and how grateful I am to God for the American healthcare system that gave you a great quality of life for as long as it did. Gotta go now! 

Your daughter,
Adenike.