In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists
(Eric Hoffer)

There is one thing in this life which is constant, ‘change.’
It can occur slowly or in a second.
It can be unexpected or premeditated
It can be feared or welcomed.
It can be invited or refused, but even the refusal will bring about change.

In the 20th century, geographical borders have changed. Names of countries have changed. Gold Coast - Ghana, Northern Rhodesia - Zambia. Southern Rhodesia - Zimbabwe, Nyasaland - Malawi, Bechuanaland - Botswana, Dahomey - Benin, Gilbert Islands - Kiribati, British Honduras - Belize, Kampuchea - Cambodia. And many more.
Do you feel yourself lucky your country of origin retains the name it had at the time of your birth?

Change is continuous, from the moment you are born you move closer to the time you will die. Yet most of us fear death, perhaps we fear the way we die more than actually being dead. Perhaps we sometimes need to consider  it is not the dying, what really counts is the way we live our life. If we could forecast major changes in our lives, it might make us think very carefully with regard to making bad decisions. Unfortunately, we make good decisions and bad decisions, whichever they are we have to live with them, it is all part of being a human being.

I am looking at the word ‘Mother’.
If you think changing the name of a country is a big deal, you have no idea what can change in your life when you change from being a daughter to a mother.
There is no map which will prepare you for motherhood, the nearest you will get is to emulate your own mother’s skills, or lack of them.
Theories and fashions change. I am quite sure all of us, have at one time or another resented intrusion into our own mothering skills, by our mother, in the belief that her methods are outdated and old fashioned.

The second your child is born you also give birth to your new name, ‘MOTHER.’
From that time on you will never be able to do one thing at a time, you are now officially a multi-tasker.
From that moment, and for the rest of your life, you will never again make a decision without first considering the effect of it on your child.
If you have only one penny in your pocket,I  or there is only one piece of bread in your kitchen, you will never eat the bread or spend the penny on yourself.
You will have the hardest and most time-consuming career without ever having to present a CV.
You might be so tired you have switched to auto pilot but you will still function.
You will never earn hard cash but you will be rewarded with an enormous amount of love.

Well love, prior to teens! Adolescence tends to make a total contradiction of everything you have dreamed about being a mother. It means change, but like every other change it is constant and will move towards another change.
Prior to teens it is:
2 years of age: I love you mummy
5 years of age: Mummy knows best
6 years of age: My mummy is a beautiful lady
7 years of age: My mummy knows everything
8 years of age: I’ll ask my mummy
9 years of age: When I grow up I want to be just like my mummy

Between twelve or thirteen you overhear your child saying to her friend.
My mother knows zilch!
My mother hasn’t got a clue!
My mother doesn’t understand me!
I think I might be adopted!
Er helloooo my mother! Don’t ask she’s from the last century!

By the time your offspring is seventeen:
That old woman. she is sooo out of date
Around nineteen-twenty when their peers are having a tough time at home, your now nearly grown child is telling her friends:
Let’s ask my mother she’s different to yours and I’m sure she’ll understand.
Maybe around 25-30 she might be asking for your opinion
If she gets to the age of forty and you haven’t lasted the course she will forever wish you were around so she can discuss her problems with you

You may obstetrically deliver your child once, however until she gets her own driving license, you will be delivering your child everywhere by car.
School runs, doctors, dentists, and haircut appointments. Each child will play at least two sports a week plus either music or dance classes. It isn’t just the delivery; you will also have to do the collections.
At least once a year, you will have to make at least one unscheduled visit to the Emergency Room; this is usually in the middle of the night.
You are responsible for reading different books to different children at bed time, ensure they have brushed their teeth morning, night and in between. Teach them and be with them when they say their prayers, which must always include a special one for the family pet.
You will also have to monitor and help with homework assignments and assist in building a nuclear reactor for a science project.
You will not only have to remember the birth weight of each child and the amount of time you were in labor. You have to also remember extended family and friend’s birthdays, anniversaries and buy the appropriate cards and presents. Every school term for around sixteen years, you will be invited to attend Parent-Teacher meetings for each and every child. Then you will experience the humiliation of sitting in a chair made for a seriously vertical challenged person, whilst in the compromising sitting position you will have to look up and be further humiliated and forced to accept responsibility for the lack of your child’s academic inattention and disruptive behavior.

Apart from mothering the children, you will be responsible for mowing the lawn, planting herbs and flowers, ecologically sorting and taking out the rubbish, plus shopping, cooking, cleaning, changing light bulbs and decorating the family home plus maintaining the family car. All of these done on a budget which barely pays for the light bulbs. You will not be allowed to sleep until all your children sleep.
Incorporated with the mothering role you will have the dual role of wife.
This entails being always clean, fresh and smelling like one of the flowers you have recently grown. Shaving your legs on a daily basis, having the perfect manicure and groomed eyebrows, wearing stiletto heels late at night and on various occasions wearing scarlet lipstick. You are not allowed to have a headache.
You must also endure irrational mood swings and abdominal cramps, all of these without once complaining.

If you go away without your child, even if she is thirty you have never really left her behind because you will ring her five times a day.
By the time you receive an old age pension, you have almost forgotten what it was really like becoming a mother.
In fact watching your own child struggling through the mothering role, you wonder how and where she finds the tireless and ongoing energy. Where she finds the patience, the gentleness, the love, respect and consideration. When did she become so selfless, where did she learn to do three jobs at the same time and answer three children at the same time?
Who taught her to be able to combine all of the above without complaining?
You really wonder where she learned all the above?
Look in the mirror, the face you see resembles that of your beautiful daughter.
The role she has chosen is the same one you chose more than thirty years ago.
Remember when she was nine years old and she said:
“When I grow up I want to be just like my mummy.”

As the wise man once told me:
 
There is one change you can be certain will enhance your life
That is the decision to change yourself.