Here Comes Treble: Rediscovering Motherhood
Five months after her marriage, my daughter Diane is still unable to join her husband in England. This is because, as a South African citizen she needs a spousal visa issued by the British Consulate before being allowed to live and work in Britain. The demanding requirements for obtaining this visa, coupled with sluggish South African bureaucracy has caused innumerable delays.
Frustrated and stressed, after twelve years of living on her own, Diane ‘came home’ and has been living with me and Leon for the last two months. After she left home at the age of 21, she drifted away from her family. We saw her sometimes once a month, often less. In the last two months, Diane and I have become closer than we ever were and to my delight, her relationships with her step-father, Leon and her brother, Bergen, have grown warm and are a joy to everyone.
Home again.
Welcome Home,
Daughter of my heart –
It’s so good to hold you close,
To know that,
Whatever your age or mine,
You fit in my arms as you always have.
My soul feels the woman you are
Merging
with the baby you were,
The loving child,
The angry, frightened teenager:
You’re safe, in my embrace.
Motherhood sometimes sleeps –
Circumstances say it must –
But as long as life and love is mine,
Motherhood defines me…
As soon as the requirements of slow-moving, demanding government departments are met, Diane will leave again, to begin a home and a family of her own.
In the interim, in spite of the frustrations experienced while striving to join her husband, Diane has given me the most precious of all gifts: Motherhood Rediscovered.
Until next time…. ‘here comes Treble!’
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by Isabel Bradley
