Mo-ri-eni-ke

I spent the day with my daughter yesterday (well, mostly) and I gained an insight into the kind of young woman she is becoming and I am awed. 

I had rudely woken her up when her younger sister was getting ready for school. Now considering that we leave home for school at 7am and that she is still adjusting to this time zone and did not get into bed till the early hours of the day, that was not nice! She however got ready uncomplainingly and in good time such that she was in the car before me (who isn't?) and even sympathised when I could not seem to find my bunch of keys which I eventually found in my bag.

We made tracks and she did Daddy-duty, walking her sis to her class, and then it was just us. We spent time in the car, waiting for one of her suitcases to get fixed during which she peppered me with questions about what I wanted to do all day and I dodged as I tried to align my thoughts for the day. She ate breakfast beside me and took some of my meat off my plate, reminding me of when hubby and I share a plate. It was nice, gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. 

Then I ran around town trying to do some of the shopping required for daily living. She had mentioned to me in passing that she wanted to visit an orphanage that she used to visit as a younger child and I had nodded and promptly forgot about it. As I bought snacks for her sister to take to school (and being unable to buy anything in bits, was buying cartons of same) she again asked if I had not forgotten that she was going to see her friends at the orphanage and could I please buy some for them too? She looked at me and must have mistaken the look on my face for irritation as she quickly added that she was willing to pay for anything I bought. I smiled.

She was not done though, haven secured the snacks, and upon hearing that she would not have to pay for them, she asked if she could give them some money as well ('since I will still have this money that you will now pay for the biscuit'), I could not help but laugh and she was determined to do most all of the fetching and carrying herself. It was amusing to watch her lift 3 cartons of biscuit all at once and struggle to balance all 3 because she did not want the aunties who were helping to load up the car to do everything.

Next, we went to buy drinks (BB star and Maltina) and there we met a girl younger than her as the attendant. The lady at the shop instructed this girl to carry both items and dear daughter jumped in and attempted to carry them. Now, being the ajebo that she is, it was immediately obvious that she could not carry both and the shop owner lady immediately asked her to leave them for this slight young girl who had left off sweeping to carry the drinks for us. Predictably, my daughter refused the help and rolled her eyes. When we got in the car, she sighed audibly and I nodded & used the opportunity to remind her to ALWAYS be thankful. No words necessary.

I ditched her at this point, seeding her to Grandma so I could get some work done and passing on the duty of school pick-up to Grandma and her and of course the driver. Work done some hours later and I head on home. She meets me and asks how my day went and we chat before I retreat to my inner sanctum for some peace and quiet. She checks up on me several times while I run around re-organizing the house and generally just moving things around. She comes to use my phone to report stuff to Daddy (who is enroute from an out of town court appearance) at some point and when I eventually calm down enough to sit still, she glides back into my room to find out how boarding school was for me.

I discover I talk to her a lot and she remembers everything because I was going to share my 'most embarrassing moment' in Secondary School and she recounts the tale and we are both dying of laughter. I would like to share but self flagellation is so 2012.....ask me on one of my down days, not today! Suffice to say, it involves a novelty football match and why I stay away from all things football.

I love this girl and I am just mighty proud that we are so in tune. She struggles with some issues and I am grateful I am privy to them and daily ask for strength to help her through. Her strength of character and ability to make choices for herself are such a joy to behold though. Her choice of how to be a blessing is also always a joy to behold. She decides what constitutes a gift and gives it. Recently, she has given more hugs than anyone of us desired. Roll your eyes, turn away, it doesn't stop her from telling you what a blessing you are to her and even though hubby and I named her Morenike, we have been the beneficiaries of such tender love and care.