Her body is tired.
She is brave. She is beautiful .
She created an environment full of love
Despite .
The youngest of thirteen . If I remember correctly .
Named after her deceased old sister.
She didn’t speak until she was six years old.
The mother of five of her own.
Her heart is ninety five years old .
The machine .
It has processed so much .
So much more than I could even fathom.
Yet
Every day she prays and gives thanks
Yet
every day she loves each and every one of us.
Something perhaps , we all should do.
She has seen change ,
the strongest ,bravest woman I will ever know.
Being born in a time , in a village ,
Before light bulbs and running water
Through to a time when she can look into a metal and plastic box, to speak in real time with her great granddaughter …..
Marrying for love , in a time when that was not always acceptable . Brave.
Living through a air raids with young children,
walking them miles to companga,in the dead of night, strained by illness , malaria i think she said. So they could be safe.. her young husband at war .
loving, strong.
Sending her daughters and husband off on a ship to a foreign land, not knowing how and when, she would EVER see them again . But knowing , she would ,
Brave
To then, be a solo mother to three young boys. Loving
There was no wifi… no quick call to check in.
Loving … strong.
Packing her life,and her three boys and two years later getting on another ship to sail across the ocean . To an unknown world , ….
Brave
Starting a new life in a new world for better things for her children. Leaving her own parents and siblings , some she was never able to see again . Learning a new language , creating a new support system. Finally finding work, SURVIVING , to give your children a better life , regardless of her comfort.
Strength
Surviving .
Burying her husband and children though illness and tragedy
Raising her grandchildren .
Bravery
Extending open arms to all those who came here after her…. To help make their arrival more comfortable .
Loving
Strong.
So, twenty years ago
She asked me how I could be so brave… so strong . ..
To drive across a country (where I spoke the language ), by myself . ..
I just laughed… I told her these things.
I said them all to her .
I am happy that I did.
“Josebella ,” I said , “I don’t even begin to be as brave and strong as you.”
She is human . She is love.
I was “brave”…for fun… for work… for adventure . .
Because , I get itchy feet , and like to travel.
My Josebella was brave for love .