A Mother’s Bargain – paying it forward

I am not her

(and)

She is not me

We waged a war

Splitting

Every battle’s victories

She kept a bargain

We never (really) made

Her wage labour

In return

For my

Education

She is not me

(and)

I am not her

We wage a war

Splitting

Every battle’s victories

I keep my deal

In a bargain we never (really) made

Her Education

In return

For my

Life’s labours

By Simone Beatrice Naik Hagfeldt, 2013-12-02. Yesterday, I did some quick sewing at home and took the time ‘to iron the seams and do a proper job’. It took me back to my mother behind the sewing machine. How much energy and effort she put into her work. It made me reflect on how we used to have this battle of wills. She vowed that we should never be workers on a factory floor. We used to argue over nothing and everything. Now I am a mother who can argue with her daughter over nothing and everything. It is also a realisation that we did not have to work on a factory floor, but it does not mean the work life is easy or without complications.