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Revisitations (2022)
I found it incredibly difficult to write about this year. Which should not surprise me because this has been a year of difficult things, of feeling my mind stretch with the ache of growth. So because I found this year so difficult to write about, I gave myself a wiring prompt. I said that I would look for a picture I felt that captured the essence of this year for me. After much struggle (because I take a thousand pictures every week), I finally stumbled upon the one above.
In this picture, I am at the Travelodge on Dodge Street in Iowa City. I left Lagos seven days ago. I cried myself to sleep the night before. I woke up with the same tears in my eyes. Tears are most of what I remember of those first few days after the move. I soaked every pillow. There is aftercare for crying, washing my face and rubbing it with a light coat of shea butter until the dark hue of my skin reminds me of my mother and draws her warmth to me. The resemblance grounds me. Just like it does in that picture. After crying myself empty to W on FaceTime, and seeing the tenderness in my mother’s face as she says ‘the land will favor you. all will be well with you’. Drawing strength from both of them, I rise from my tears, have a shower, wear a pretty orange dress and prepare to move into my apartment.
My friend Adedayo comes to pick me up and the sky is such a perfect shade of blue, it feels like something to…
