I chuckled a few months ago when I saw that my God Mom Enid Bevel finally got a Facebook page lol. If you are an avid reader, you may have remembered me blogging about my God mom and I said that she was from Monrovia, Liberia. I remember when we first met, it was like yesterday. We have a very odd relationship because you see, I used to date her son back in high school. After her son and I broke up because both of us went away to two different colleges, I still kept in touch with this beautiful angel. If I am not mistaken, I still have a key to her house, its around here somewhere lol. She still calls me her daughter-in-law too, although her son and I are married to other people now…lawd!
She owned a dress shop in Cleveland, Ohio it was called, Nakeli’s Liberian Jungle and it was located inside Randall Park Mall that is now closed down. When I was a teenager, I would drive her around to buy African fabrics and take her grocery shopping because she hated to drive. We would go as far as Dayton, Ohio sometimes, we had so much fun. She loved to cook African meals and one time I thought I was eating roast beef when it turned out to be monkey meat, I almost passed out but it was so good lol!
Enid is a very tiny lady and has five kids. Her waist is extremely small and she has a very nice shape to be her age. When I had my first daughter Dootie, she came by my house and took a Kufi cloth and wrapped it around my waist really firmly. She told me that I would thank her later! This was way before Spanx had come out. I wore it day and night for a few weeks and sure enough, my body snapped back like I had never had a baby! We did the same thing when I had my son too. She was also my Nanny and would watch my kids for me. One time I came home and she had my son Pootie wrapped on her back while she was cleaning the kitchen!
He had to be a few weeks old maybe a bit older but I was so frightened when I saw that and thought he was suffocating lol. She schooled me on the African culture and how women in her tribe always carried their babies around this way. I learned so much from her and she told me that babies liked to be tightly wrapped when they are newborns, I had no clue. He was knocked out too! I love my god mom and although I don’t see her in person as much as I would like to, we still stay in touch. Her baby daughter Nakeli was in my wedding and she lives here in Atlanta as well. I’m still very close to the family, that is so funny to me. She likes my hubby Terrell but still till this day, she introduces me as her daughter-in-law lol! Lawd, I love my Enid. xoxo
Nice story Tami! I love when you share these types of tales! LOL.
Such a great story! We are all so richly blessed for the “earth” relatives we encounter along our life’s journey.