05/10/2026
Our first motivational speaker was not online
They say role models live on television screens,
Wear expensive suits, Stand behind microphones,
And trend on social media.
But mine?
and 99 others?
Just like Facebook would say
tied wrapper at midnight
and also tied prayers around our future before dawn.
My Mother, My Model
Mama Chi buried her husband
Yet still showed up in church on Sunday.
Not because the pain disappeared…
But because sometimes,
Faith is a woman standing while her heart is collapsing quietly inside her.
Mummy Yak raised children alone.
No helper. No break. No applause.
Yet she taught them strength so well
That even suffering could not make them weak.
So when you hear Yak manage,
You will feel it but you won't die
Yakubu learnt it from a woman
Who mastered endurance before comfort ever arrived.
Then the grandmother,
Who never signed up for round two motherhood,
Yet carried her grandchildren
Like heaven personally assigned them to her.
Love made her start again
Even when age whispered "rest".
And the stepmother…
The one they never called “mum,”
Yet she still packed lunches,
Still stayed awake during fever nights,
Still showed up every single time.
Because sometimes
The people not properly appreciated
Are the ones loving the hardest.
Mummy Indi may be gone,
But somehow her voice still speaks
Whenever life becomes difficult.
Because all Indi hears are
“Be strong.”
“Pray first.”
“Don’t give up yet.”
Because her praying mother didn't truly leave her
Her prayers and advise keeps echoing long after the silence arrived.
Aunty Oj never got to watch her kids fully grow,
But before she left,
She planted prayers into their future.
And every time her story is told,
People speak about her presence in her absence…
The woman trusting God with empty arms but a hopeful heart.
The woman smiling at baby dedications While fighting tears on her way home.
The woman called “strong”
Simply because nobody noticed she was tired.
She's still a model.
So Today, we celebrate mothers.
The joyful mother.
The grieving mother.
The single mother.
The waiting woman.
The grandmother.
The stepmum.
The woman who kept loving
Even when life was not loving her back.
And as we celebrate this year…
May the traffic light not turn red
When it is finally your turn to move.
May heaven grant mothers the opportunity
To enjoy the reward of their labor.
May the children they prayed for
Become the answers to those prayers.
Because after all is said and done…
Our first teacher was not in a classroom.
Our first motivational speaker was not online.
Our first example of sacrifice did not wear a cape.
She wore tired eyes,
Said silent prayers,
And showed unconditional love.
My mother… My model.
©️ 2026, Saar_haywhy
(Ayomide Olabisi)
