Nobody prepares you for this part.
They don’t tell you about the nights you lay awake worrying. They don’t mention the anxiety that creeps in when a call comes too late. They don’t warn you about the weight of smiling for your children when your heart is carrying something heavy.
first week is always the hardest.
The house feels quieter. The bed feels bigger. The children keep asking questions you don’t have all the answers to.
“When is daddy coming back?”
Let me paint you a picture.
Can I be honest with you for a second?
Some days… the schedule wins.
The alarm goes off. The kids are late. The car won’t start. There is no fuel. Your husband is on duty and unreachable. The school is calling. Your boss is emailing.
And somewhere in the middle of all of that… you are supposed to hold it together.
It is 5:30am. The alarm goes off… but she was already awake.
Let me tell you about a woman named Amaka.
Every morning, Amaka wakes up before sunrise. She makes breakfast, packs lunch boxes, helps with homework, settles arguments between the kids… all before 7am. And she does it alone.
She woke up at 5am today.
Not because she had to. But because somebody had to.
The children needed to be fed. The house needed to be kept. The bills needed to be tracked. The emotions needed to be managed… including her own.
Let me paint you a picture.
It is 5:30am. The alarm goes off… but she was already awake.