Myself Brianna, Irish by birth, a single mother of two. One day my younger one, Brita,7, came running to me with a book titled ’50 Most Powerful and Influential Women In The World’.
Though not a psychologist by profession, with the inbuilt talent of a mother to read through her child, I could sense that something was certainly not right with her. Upon my enquiry, she said, ‘Ma, I’m just sad that your picture is not there in this book. Aren’t you powerful as well?
The fact that her mother is not ‘powerful' made her sad. She also said, ‘If dad was with us I am sure he would have made it to the list of powerful men.’
I didn’t know whether to laugh at the innocence of my baby girl or just break down, but above all, I felt this is the right opportunity to walk her through the path of some bitter truths.
Making sure she is perfectly seated on my lap, I told her what power in this world meant, that it is the ability to make an impact on the lives around you. She was visibly not happy with my answer.
I went on, ‘but do you know that I have some superpowers?
Since that was a fact unknown to her I saw her eyes light up with excitement and eagerness .
Before long she started shooting me with questions to verify how similar I am to the ones she had seen in her cartoon. When the questions started piling up I had no choice other than to impose a rule on her to stay shut until am done with my narration.
I began, ‘I can't fly over huge building nor can I dive through the fire’.
I could see the brightness in her eyes reduce as her mom was going away from the imagination she had but I chose to ignore it and move on.
‘But I can protect my kids from anyone who tries to cast an evil shadow on them, I can burn down the cruel stares that befall on them just because they grow up without a male parent, and yes ,I can meltdown to give my kids a better life'.
I could see my girl running towards her room grabbing something from my side. I couldn’t understand anything but soon my mind was fogged with the bitterness of my past that I lost track of the present.
Brita came back and gave me the same book from where it all began. But what caught my attention was a small edit in the title of the book. It was now named ’51 Most Powerful and Influential Women In The World’, as I scrolled through the pages curiously I saw a sheet tucked at the end of the book with the title ’51.Brianna Alby’.
I suddenly felt that my tongue chose to withdraw as my emotions took over it but before I could say anything she said ‘Ma, you made an impact on our lives so you are powerful ’.
I hugged her tight and all I could feel was my heart throbbing with pride and my tears diving deep through the pages.
Leo 1/3/2022 3:10:11 PM
Reading this story, almost brought tears in my eyes 😃. It's beautiful the way you described the superpowers of a mother 💙
Jyotsna 11/30/2021 10:00:27 AM
Aww this was such an adorable story. Thank you for this, Karthika. ❤