To The Daughter Of My Heart… personal

December 5, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha47 Comments

Wearing a crown painstakingly made by my younger brother :) — Wearing a crown painstakingly made by my younger brother 🙂

My dearest darling daughter,

I watch in awe as you edge on the cusp of teenage-hood, so fast, so soon, since it seems just like yesterday that your cute, squiggly and warm self was handed into my arms and you truly became mine.

I still relive your valiant struggle to surmount all the challenges faced by a tiny preemie and as I look at you today, my tall elegant child, it is in amazement of God’s goodness and grace over your life.

Daughter mine, my gentle unassuming child, in my minds eyes, I remember your tiny arms outstretched to me so many times as you uttered, ”carry mama” always a toddling step behind my feet.

Now, look at you! My beautiful budding young child, full of her own dreams and aspirations and bright as the morning star.

The love that I have for you cannot be expressed fully with words and my heart burgeons with so much delight with The Heavens for allowing you to be mine.

I say this so that you may always know, that even if you look back tomorrow and I am no where to be found, that I love you to the ends of time.

That I love you unconditionally and irrevocably.

Know that as your wings grow and are stretching to fly, that I pray for you today and always.

I pray that your star will always shine as bright as The Heavens created it to be.

I pray that you will soar like an Eagle and that wisdom will always follow you.

I pray that deep peace that flows like the oceans of time will always be your portion and the flow of your joy shall be like a river.

I pray that the generosity and compassion of your heart will continually expand.

I pray that abundant Grace will be your daily cloak, that favour will be your portion and that the Mercy of God will never depart from you.

I pray that your courage will be boundless as you grow into a confident, strong lady, filled with faith, hope and love.

I pray deeply that life will treat you well. Be blessed. Be happy. Be well.

Happy 12th my precious girl Nnenna, Adaobi, Christine, Mmesomachukwu.

You truly decorate my life and my heart.

I love you loads and loads.

Mummy.

Family · Hope · Life · Quotes For You · Success · The Daily Post · Writing

When I Was Just A Little Girl…personal

December 1, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha38 Comments

I have to hum this song of Doris Day in my head while at it:

When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother what will I be
Will I be pretty will I be rich
Here’s what she said to me

Que Sera Sera
Whatever will be will be
The future’s not ours to see
Que Sera Sera
What will be will be

When I grew up and fell in love
I asked my sweetheart what lies ahead
Will we have rainbows day after day
Here’s what my sweetheart said

Que Sera Sera
Whatever will be will be
The future’s not ours to see
Que Sera Sera
What will be will be

Now I have children of my own
They ask their mother what will I be
Will I be handsome will I be rich
I tell them tenderly

Que Sera Sera
Whatever will be will be
The future’s not ours to see
Que Sera Sera
What will be will be
Que Sera Sera

Doris Day Que sera sera

Like most young children, I had as many aspirations as my diapers were changed, ranging from being a newscaster, an actress, a mother, a singer, a nurse, a pilot, a lawyer, a writer, a fashion designer….just about everything that you could think of in the book.

I don’t recall wanting to be a police officer, because the Nigerian police of my growing up years were not particularly inspiring.

We hardly knew what fire service men looked like, because if someone’s house unfortunately caught fire, they would attempt to quench the thirst of the licking hot flames with buckets of water while watching their properties turn to cinders, so I had no aspirations in that direction.

I fancied being a doctor at some point, because of the films that I watched, where they looked so capable and nice in their scrubs.

I dabbled a bit here and there in living my childhood dreams.

A bit of novice modelling and amateur acting, debating and writing for young magazines.

I learnt how to sew and realized that I would rather draw the designs than sew the clothes.

I studied law but I am not a practicing lawyer.

I went into international relations/French language and spent over a dozen years working with Multinational and Diplomatic corps.

After my children arrived, I waded into entrepreneurial ventures and found it to my liking – I love being the boss of me and having time for my young family.

In all my multi desires, the strongest desire which has not fallen by the wayside over time, but has only grown stronger has been my writing aspirations.

This is the flame that I want to keep stoking so that it can burn as high as possible and I think that my cumulative, diverse experiences brings a lot to bear into my writing.

I feel as if my writing is an embodiment of all my past aspirations and even those that are still at incubating stage such as some of my interests in Life coaching and Entrepreneurship. We shall see how it goes.

Now, I find several me’s embedded inside one me: Me (myself), me the wife, me the mother, me the child of my parents, me the writer, me the friend, me the life student and many more me’s to discover.

Life is a consistent transition and as I roll with the constant fluidity of life, part of the affirmations I make to myself are that:

I will live and not die wishing that I had lived better. I will live to declare the goods works of the Lord in the land of the living. I will live moment by moment, loving my life as it is and loving those around me. I will not live in fear of daring to succeed but will dare to succeed and fail forward.

The Daily Post Ballerian-Fireman-Astronaut-Movie-Star

When you were 10, what did you want to be when you grew up? What are you now? Are the two connected?

Image credit: Pinterest

Creative Writing · Hope · Inspiration - Motivation · Musings · Poetry/Poems · Success · Weave that Dream

Moon Talk…

November 27, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha10 Comments


It was a dark night in her life!

The twinkles of the sky beckoned from afar;

And the big glowing orb looked down at her.

In his sage, timeless understanding, he winked;

Old man moon she called, so softly.

How do I reach for the stars?

Old man moon laughed a jolly good laugh.

In timeless ways of an old sage, he said:

Little girl!

Dare to dream!

Asleep and Awake!

Close your eyes and stretch!

And reach for the skies!

She listened and she paused to listen again!

Then she closed her eyes;

She Dared to Dream;

Asleep and Awake!

She stretched!

When she opened her eyes;

She had caught some golden orbs of the brilliant Sun!

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Blogging · Family · Hope · Life

Multiple Dreams…

November 3, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha22 Comments

Good evening. From BlogQTV, these are the headlines…yada, yada, blah, blah, blah…

The attraction of young unjaded bright eyes to legendary newscasters beaming their lovely dentition through our black and white television stoked a childish dream and aspiration.

“What did it feel like to speak into that microphone and have others listen to the words that came forth?” I was enthralled. I made my ever loving younger brothers my audience with my fabricated microphone of an empty plastic bottle 🙂

Then again, so did so many other things mesmerize me even things that turned out not to be good for me.

In my head, I often became a renowned newscaster, artist, actor, dancer, singer, sportswoman, astronaut, detective (yes I fancied myself a George in famous five, a Nancy Drew and even Sherlock Holmes at some point in time; I wrote a detective story and called myself Sherlocka Homer 😉

It was a case of whatever caught the fancy of this impressionable young child which I think was an excellent exercise. “I wonder if my younger siblings think so?”

I was always the nurse who gave the injections and they were my patients ;-), or the cop and they remained the bad guys.

Then came crunch time of university and choosing a course. Theatre Arts was vehemently refused by my parents. Back then in Nigeria, artistes were hungry and viewed as a bunch of charlatans.

Communication Arts was also not highly favoured. There was a need to have a prestigious lawyer in the house, so I tried to become one.

To cut a long story short, lawyer I am not. I have evolved into so many things over time and have learnt as I went along, “that though sometimes, life wants to chose what it wants you to become, you have to take pliers and grip that which you truly want.’‘

In response to NaBloPoMo prompt – Tuesday, November 3

What did you think was the coolest job in the world when you were younger? Do you still feel that way now?