Good to the Last Drop

I have a motto. I learned it from a neonatologist in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) when Maggie was first born.

When I first heard it, Maggie was fighting for her life. I was so overwhelmed by the ongoing battle; I was missing some of the little signs that we were winning the war. Doctors deliver news in the same way whether it’s really good or really bad. I know now, but did not know then, that you cannot take clues from their voice – you have to listen to their words. But the words were foreign and scary. In a matter of days, I learned words like gastrostomy tube, colostomy, atresia, anastamosis, ventilator and so many more.

I was overloaded. I needed words like “She’ll be fine” but I was not hearing those. The doctor knew I was an intelligent woman and knew I was not hearing or digesting his words even when it was good news. So he started speaking Swahili. Then I paid attention. And he gave me the motto I have used ever since.

It was so perfect I adopted it immediately and have kept it ever since. The only problem is I can say it, but I cannot spell it. It is a Swahili saying, I think. I do not speak Swahili. I do not spell Swahili. I am not even sure it is Swahili. However it is supposed to be written or whatever its origin, it is my credo. I will write it out phonetically and anyone who can correct it, PLEASE do so. The saying is

HABA NA HABA HU-JAZA KEE-BABA.

Translation: “DROP BY DROP THE CUP IS FILLED”

It is so much cooler to say it in Swahili, though, because in English it sounds like a Maxwell House commercial.

It is positive, it is hopeful. All progress, however small, is a step toward the goal. There are plenty of English sayings with essentially the same message. Every little bit counts. Or even, Slow and steady wins the race. However, they just do not roll off the tongue like Haba Na Haba….

It is versatile. It applies equally to Maggie’s fight for life as it does to cleaning up the house. Any goal at all can be achieved in small steps. I have to do many things today, call my sister Joan to say Happy Birthday, finish a proposed op-ed piece for Advokids, Christmas Shop, clean house, order Maggie’s supplies, find a new nurse, and attend a dinner. Some of it will happen today. Some of it will be completed today. Some if it will be started. But eventually it will all happen because Haba Na Haba Hu Jaza Kee Baba.

Good to the last drop.