Dear Gladys,
This is your son again. The one you love with the whole of your heart as you do Kim and Cynthia and everyone and everything that you choose to love with your whole heart. The one you pride in and love to show off to your peers. The one you watched full of hope grow into a man, from the time his day job was fishing tadpoles and crabs and hunting for ‘nyondes’, and whose greatest gratification in life at some point was pouring your milk and sugar while driving his ‘mfara’ or a borrowed tyre. Not forgetting ‘mpararo’ and ‘mzururo’ of course, which you occasionally thrashed sufficiently out of him. But now he’s fine outstanding young man, I know you can’t forget that engineer part, but do you say!
In your philosophy of self-drive and self-reliance which you have demonstrated personally with all your ventures, you saw your son rise up the social ranks. From the pits and the dogs to relative stature and significance in society today. You always told me to put my head above the challenges and to always think greatness. This helped me pass through the darkest of periods some of which were architectured to make me a failure in life. You also taught me and gave me space to explore, and in that created an avenue for thinking outside the box. You always listened to my ideas, some of them incoherent, some of them genius and some of them outright baloney. You always encouraged me to work towards improvement. And of course I’m not done yet. Be ready for more triumphs and conquers as I continue to gather wisdom, courage and insight.
You always kept me in check and checked. You worked each and every single muscle and piece of might you had to ensure you sustained Kim, Cynthia and I to your level best. You also kept me in line and were always keen to cool my hot head with soothing words. I can’t get enough of your words. And you always showed me the right way. You have always been ready to tell me to my face when you feel some way is headed to the ditch. You have saved my skin more than a dozen times. And you are still ready to do so. You wonder me Gladys mummy.
You were and have always been ready to take battering and bullying us. Especially for Kim and I, with brilliant ideas always being churned out of our hyper-active brains, some not so popular and others quite conniving, we were always bound to ruffle some feathers here and there and get into hot soup once in a while either intentionally, which often times is true or accidentally. You always took our corner, for if you didn’t, no one would. You knew this too well. What greater sacrifice.
In your selfless dedication to see us succeed, we have continued to reciprocate by dedicating our energies wholesomely in whatever thing we do. Personally, my drive for excellence is not by chance, it has always been in cognisance of your ethics which you inculcated in me from my tender years.
And you always told us to keep our spirits high. You insisted that you want to see me walk with my shoulders high and this I have done diligently. You insisted on dropping the frown, and my smile grows broader each day. The smile that you generously passed to me. You also taught us to make and keep friends and this we just can’t stop.
Thinking of all that you have done in quest for our development, I’m tempted to shed a tear. But I won’t because I’m all grown up and I’m a strong man now. I’m tempted to shed this tear because as much as it is your motherly nature to do all this, I have failed to recognize the extraordinariness of your deeds. For this and all the trouble I may have caused you, I deeply apologize.
It’s exactly 4 days to this year’s celebration of you as a mother and as my mother, Mother’s day. But I won’t wait till then. This year, my gift to you will be to tell you and to tell the world how I truly feel for you. First of all, I want to tell you that the same way you love me with your whole heart, I love you too with every single angle of my heart, and unconditionally. The same way you have chosen to always stick with us, I pledge to stick with you, to support you in all ways you can think of and to defend you just as you would do for me. I also want to thank you for all the sweet things, the insane and the painful things that you have done and have had to do for Cynthia, Kim and I. You will continue to be my greatest inspiration for as long as I live. Finally, I pray to God to give you the energy to keep inspiring us and to keep brightening our souls and reminding us how important it is to be nice. May God also keep you strong for many years and give you good health to see us as we proceed from one cloud of success to the next.
Yours truly,
Newton
Mwai Newton - The Happy Place 