Our family’s epitome of wisdom, the very essence of divinity encapsulated in humanity. She is my African Queen, the one who has held all the family strands together, whose silence echoes, breaking the barriers and long-standing walls of hatred.

Whose embrace and hush, silences the floodgate of tears. Journeyed for decades, now in her eighties, her skin glows and oozes with beauty. A woman of peaceful temperament, a life gone through the tempest; one wonders now if there is anything capable of upsetting her.

She has birthed and nursed ten, now a great-grandmother passing on her strength and agility to generations. One-day walking in the woods, she stopped by one tree to pluck off its leaves. “This has been my secret daughter, my Botox being the non-poisonous herbs all around me. I have never tested positive for diabetes, blood pressure or any of those. I can never exchange this body with anyone else’s.

Through grace, I have understood the true beauty of nature, appreciated the medicinal benefits of all that we see in creation. Medicine for your spirit, soul and body is always at your disposal, the choice is yours to embrace this truth. Everything serves its purpose. Yours is to discover and align to that purpose. We never grew with all that you now call technology. Ours however, has been the ability to raise generations, encapsulated in an intrinsic understanding and connection to its source.”

I love to call her a woman of valor, one who never eats the bread of idleness as she still tends to her garden, tills the land, cooks and cleans; carry my three-year old on her back if need be. When I look at her, I see someone who has understood the assignment, a disposition she chose to bring to life, making each day memorable not just for herself but for every person that comes her way. I am proud to be the granddaughter of a fierce woman.

I could not wait for death to honor such a life, one worth celebrating. So, here’s to celebrating the grey hair, saggy breasts, droopy skin, toothless smile and many more years of imparting true beauty and strength. Grandma, allow me to call yours, sagging beauty.

Long live my African Queen!