The Woman Nobody Was Watching #294

As a man, I have some responsible women in my life because I am surrounded by women. But on this one, I will be going with my mother because she never announced anything she did. And that is the part that has kept ringing in my mind when I saw this question.

Right before anyone wakes up in the house, she is already up. Not to be praised for it. And the food is already ready; the house is always happy as it held itself together, and our school fees are right on point even though I don't know how she goes about it sometimes. And when I was now matured and started taking note of everything, I posed a curious question to her on how she managed everything. She glanced at me briefly, smiled, and continued what she was doing. There was no talk; she didn't explain anything at that moment. She just went on with what she was doing.

And let me chip in this: as a man among many ladies in the house, my mom taught me how to cook, and I am happy she did because I have no regrets that I don't know how to cook. She put me through a lot of things that I know today, morally, spiritually, culturally, health-wise, academically, and all. She's my first teacher.

And today, within my lifetime, I have seen how what our society calls a responsible woman change completely. What a lot of people now call a responsible woman now depends on her career, her income, visible independence, and, let me say, her opinion on everything public. All those things are perfectly fine. But then the version I saw while growing was not as hard as that; it was something very simple. What I saw was things that nobody rewarded or measured, been there in your way for things that would never appear on any timeline.

As a man, what I have concluded about the word responsible in anyone or a woman is not the loudest thing they do or about them. It's that thing that they are busy doing when nobody is there to praise or clap for them. That positive decision they are busy making at the dead of the night. The sacrifices she made that never became a fight or a long talk at the dinner table. The problems they took in right before they became the problem of others.
I have never seen my mother call herself a responsible woman because right from the day I knew her, she has been busy being it.

Thank you for reading.

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