Today I am.
Today I am doing lots of self-reflection: an activity I feel grateful to have the time and space to do.
I’m residing in a home paid for (by the skin of my teeth) with the humble salary from the part-time job I managed to hold down through the pandemic.
I’m sitting at the table and chair already in this furnished flat that I could instantly settle into and start living, versus traipsing around Ikea trying to select bits and bobs.
I’m wearing a purple ‘dirac’ airy dress from my Somali friend further wrapped in a red ‘kain sarung’ from my Malaysian friend for more warmth, feeling lucky as a Yorùbá-Nigerian clothed in such international community.
I’m working on a computer honing typing skills developed through poetry collections, uni essays, work assignments, even creating teaching materials and assessments for my students, and more.
I’m drafting my narrative writing ranging from poetry inspired by Roald Dahl nonsense rhymes to memoir pieces inspired by Maya Angelou’s life of global creativity, activism and love.
I’m interacting with online communities enticing me with dramatic theatre, thoughtful debate, inspirational fellow creatives, intelligent discourse, impromptu dance parties and virtual Christenings of newborns oceans away overloaded with cuteness.
I’m seeing all this through healthy eyes, hearing with healthy ears, processing through a healthy brain, supported by a healthy body, and today I know I am blessed.
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Tomorrow I can be.
Tomorrow I can be the embodiment of hopes and dreams from past todays as well as this today now.
I can be face-full rather than faceless, unmask and let the covid-safe world see happy smiles and plump cheeks, communicating beyond a muffed voice behind surgical fabric as the pandemic gradually subsides.
I can be a homeowner, have a foray of differently themed rooms, decorated with keepsakes from trips across the world spanning 5 continents, but ultimately centred on Yorùbá vibes.
I can be close to more family in London, visiting cousins, attending weddings, seeing nieces and nephews grow as childhood spirals into newfound tallness accompanying both academic and emotional intelligence.
I can visit more friends near in other cities and far in other countries (preferably sunnier) after the lockdown lifts properly, definitively, finally.
I can march for a new day of justice, pounding the road, threading the streets, joining global voices chanting in unison ‘Black Lives Matter’, honouring loving fathers like George Floyd, Sheku Bayoh and Mark Duggan as well as devoted mothers like Dorothy "Cherry" Groce and Cynthia Jarrett, taken away by law un-enforcement.
I can create training spaces where others can hone their language and communication skills, facilitating more life opportunities, driving job prospects higher, bringing aspirations ever closer.
I can discuss the premise of an enthralling page-turner with interested readers, engaged editors and eager publishers whilst drafting the bones of its sequel a la J.K. Rowling, and tomorrow I’ll see ever new horizons.
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Yes. Today I am, tomorrow I can be…and the present future will always be full of promise.
