Let's Give Mum's A Real Mother's Day

It’s Mother’s Day.

However, not all mothers are going to spend the day with Off Spring or boast to Neighbour what Off Spring did for them.

Some Off Spring, don’t get on with Mum and refer to them as: “Adolf Hitler’s sister, Masaka Evil Witch to Kiboko Mum from Namasuba” - something to do with the way Mum raised them?

Other mothers won’t get anything because Off Spring has left the family nest and no longer has time for them. Instead, they will be at the beach in Entebbe with Girlfie or Boyfie eating whole mputu fish while Mother, sits at home all alone and hoping that the next time the gate is opened, it’s one – if not, all of her children.

Then there is Mother who, has been incarcerated in Luzira or one of the other prisons and who won’t be with Off Spring because – prisons don’t grant visiting days for Mother’s Day, let alone Father’s Day, Christmas, Easter – and even Valentine’s Day.

But some mothers don’t deserve Mother’s Day like, Mother who some many years ago, turned up at the old Bamboo Nest in Bugologbi during a heated football match between Manchester United and West Ham. She brought her less than one-year-old toy-ee along, who she dumped in a shawl in the middle of a table filled with beer bottles, overflowing ashtrays and plates of pork. And in a very blazed state, she had the nerve to stand up when a loud cheer erupted to castigate fans for having woken up Toy-ee. Hmm!

We all have different bonds with our mothers and we all come from very different economic groups. Mother’s Day, is not about trying to impress Mum because we have the money to spend a few hours with her at a Serena luncheon. Mother’s Day, is about renewing that bond we have with her when we were younger.

Mother carried us all – even the bad boys like Hitler, Kony, Bin Laden, ISIS, SA Xenophobia and Boko Haram for nine months. Some mothers who were not wealthy still had to dig and provide for the family all though their pregnancies. And when out we popped, Mum never complained. She held us. She loved us. She guided us through life and even when we left home, she didn’t stop trying to mother us.

Many of us don’t talk about our mothers and I have never met many of my friends’ mothers or know their names or where they live. I just know they have Mum and that’s it.

One person who I wish I could emulate in showing love for his mother is Charles Mbire. While Mbire has the money and can afford to do many things for Mum, if you step back and look at them together, it’s not about money.

Mbire has an unbreakable appreciation for his mother and it’s mixed with a genuine love, a genuine respect, a genuine belief that his mother played a central role in his life. Throwing her huge parties represents less than ten per cent of what his mother is to him.

While a dime is tight, I will still go to Mum’s - albeit empty handed and spend the day - and the night. It will compensate for no gifts and bring a smile to her face. And I am not doing it because it’s Mother’s Day. I am doing it because she is Mum and every day, I am going to show her it’s another Mother’s Day to me.

So what you say - we give the mputa fish at the beach a miss, skip the kafunda beer, pass on that Premiership game and the trip to the salon. Let’s go see Mother!

Happy Mother’s Day to y’all.