Unknown illness

I returned to my father’s house, while Mika and Katleho went to the school. 

I found my mother paging through an old photo album, what she normally did when she wanted to relive old memories. 

“I am so proud you my child.” said Patricia. 

“Proud, why?” 

“Look at this picture, tell me what you see?”Patricia said pointing at one of the pictures in the album. 

I leaned closer to my mother to get a clear view of the picture. And began to laugh. 

“I see a two year kid, butt naked carrying a ball and laughing. I was probably playing.” 

“and I see something else entirely. I see joy, we struggled so much but you were so happy my child. You didn’t even know how much pain I was in at the time, how stressed I was for not being employed, not being able to provide for you.It was so hard back then.” Patricia cried. 

“But we didn’t stru