SWEETNESS.

From across the room, she looked shy, reserved, some kind of introvert then I heard her laugh out loud and I realized I had done that Kecho thing of judging the book by its cover. JQ, as I would later on call her is an onion; layers upon layers. I loved her laughter a lot, its infectious.

JQ and I met at Mopane Leadership Experience in Late February, this is a retreat organized by CivSource-Africahttps://www.civsourceafrica.com/ to support leadership development and wellness of leaders through coaching and mentorship. So, here we were a group of 30 or so females trying to find our true selves in these streets called Life, and in that kavuyo(chaos) we formed friendships that have somehow morphed into beautiful sisterhoods. People talk about adult friendships being so hard to keep because life gets in the way, but I think it’s the fact one has to be vulnerable and intentional about nurturing the bond. The fact that we were on a self- discovery retreat, this made it easier for us to mesh. Wounds, warts and scars, bare.

JQ is a beautiful soul, her kindness is what the Bible writers mean when they describe God’s loving-kindness, she has the loveliest smile (don’t believe me look at her picture below) I have gotten to know her more since we left the retreat and sometimes I can’t believe that such a human walk amongst us.

One of her siblings told me a story about how she gifted her car to their brother and his new wife on their wedding day and she asked one of them to drop her home after the wedding party. Hahahaha. I asked her did you plan to gift it or it was spontaneous? “Spontaneous” she replied. This is something I have learnt about her, she doesn’t like seeing her loved ones suffer, there are multiple stories about her kind heart and generosity but that’s just the icing on the cake. She’s very intelligent, fore thinker, passionate lover of God, nothing and I mean nothing can separate her from her family. She’s team Daddy’s Girl (Yaaaayyyy!!!) and her siblings seemed to have given her that crown.

JQ, as you grow a year older, aging like fine wine, I pray you let the world experience you down to the last bits of yourself that you lament over not being perfect. In our eyes you are imperfectly perfect and I am glad to be walking this journey with you.

Thank you for sharing your sweetness with us, we really don’t deserve you.

Thank you for sharing your sweetness with us, we really don’t deserve you.

Happy Birthday JQ.❣️❣️🥳🥳