The mountain called parenting
Navigating the dirty and busy streets of downtown Nairobi after a downpour, I remembered the morning when my colleagues and I were coming down after a triumphant climb to the summit of Rwenzori ranges.
We had been preparing to climb the mountain since January that year. We had been through rigorous training such as running with heavy truck tires through the hills in Kololo to navigating the bushes in Mabira forest.
We had walked the Northern bypass from Namboole stadium to the Nateete roundabout in Busega. We had walked the seven hills of Kampala. When we got to the Margarita peak of the Rwenzori ranges, to say it was a relief is a gross understatement!
We had worked so hard it was almost unbelievable that we had made it! The entire crew! We rejoiced in our victory.
As we got down, the skies opened and they did not relent until late in the afternoon. Descending a mountain is already a challenge without having to deal with the elements. And yet we were navigating very steep rocks which had become dangerously slippery.
To date, I am not sure which has been worse; climbing the Rwenzori, coming down when it was raining or enduring pains of childbirth. All the three experiences have stretched yours truly to levels beyond what can be described in words!
Often, I feel life is like ascending and descending a mountain. One moment you are walking through the green luscious vegetation and on another day you deal with rocks, sand and clouds of dust.
Being a parent takes this mountain climb to a whole new level. One day the child is this sweet adorable being who cries when desiring a feed and the next is a rowdy teenager who is taller than his mother and balancing trousers.
Sometimes you look at your child and your heart melts with joy and another time you are tempted to tell the school principal that the child is your neighbour’s friend’s cat’s twin brother’s grandchild! But isn’t God amazing!
He made the rain, the moon, the thunder and the raging storm! Lightening is but an element and the sun shines brightly in honour of the one who created it so!
