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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| something for daughters, mothers, grandmothers |
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| gift |
| 07/08/03 at 07:22:11 |
| [slm] Here's something beautiful I read in a book recently and the first thing I thought of was sharing it with my madina sisters :-* It's from a passage where a grandmother is talking to her pregnant granddaughter. [color=Black] “Lord, honey, the things I remember. Some things I remember, would’ve been a blessing to forget, like losing my young’uns. They ain’t no despair in the world matches that, no matter if they’s still inside you or if they’s grown. It’s just a different kind of torment when you watch them grow up and think they’re going to be all right and then they’re took from you. … Just remember this, honey, when your baby’s born, and sometimes cries all night and you got to hold it for hours and hours, and your arms gets so tired you can’t feel them no more and you so sleepy you get scared you might fall out the chair and hurt the baby, honey, be grateful. Be grateful you can hold that baby with the sure knowledge that you ain’t going to let nothing nor nobody hurt it, ‘cause that’s about the only time in your life you’ll have that luxury. Ever after, you’ll always be wondering: Is my baby all right tonight? Is he sleeping peaceful? Is he happy and surrounded by people that cares for him? Is he in pain? Is he lonesome? Does he need something only I can give him, but he ain’t got no way to let me know? Lord, please keep my child safe tonight. … That’s when I learned another lesson about faith. You don’t get tested just one time and that’s it, everything’s pretty and safe from then on. You get tested over and over again, and it’s true what they about what don’t kill you only makes you stronger. But being strong don’t mean you don’t hurt. … …when your young’uns drive you crazy - and they will, they can’t help it - just remember they’re only little for what seems like a few weeks, then they’re grown and gone and you ain’t got nothing but memories of their sweetness to hold on to when they don’t need you no more. Even if you only get a minute of that sweetness a day, that’s what you’ll take with you. You won’t remember that they said Mama ten thousand times a day, or caused too many sleepless nights to count, or worried you to death when they didn’t come home for supper on time. You’ll remember when they hugged your neck so hard it cracked, and the times they came running to you when they was scared, and the way they smiled at you just as they was about to fall asleep, like your face held the light of the world and they didn’t want to close their eyes and not see it no more. That’s what you’ll remember, and it’ll be sweet, oh, sweet. Sweet as butterscotch candy in your mouth, honey. Sweet enough to flavour the days when your body hurts all over, and you can’t remember what you had for breakfast … In this life, honey, seems like they’s just enough sweet to get you through.” [/color] [wlm] |
| Re: something for daughters, mothers, grandmothers |
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| Maliha |
| 07/08/03 at 07:27:00 |
| [slm] awwwwwwww Subhana Allah soooooo beautiful :'( Sounds like Toni Morrisson's work is it? what book/author is this excerpt from? Subhana Allah... Jazaki Allahu Khayran for sharing me sis :) Sis, Maliha [wlm] |
| Re: something for daughters, mothers, grandmothers |
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| gift |
| 07/08/03 at 09:22:38 |
| [slm] ooops, i forgot to put the name of the book duh :P, it's from Moon Women: A Novel of the Deep South, Pamela Duncan, 2001. Although there is some swearing and other stuff, it's generally a book about family and what we can learn from our mothers and grandmothers. [wlm] |
| 07/08/03 at 09:23:38 |
| gift |
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