A Thousand Threads: A Memoir by Neneh Cherry

Author:Neneh Cherry [Cherry, Neneh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, Autobiography, Memoir, Musicians, Music
ISBN: 9781982161095
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 2024-10-08T00:00:00+00:00

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Ari, Tessa, Viv, and Bruce, Andi, Sean, Gareth, and I: we moved as a group and the family ties kept evolving. Ari, who seemed the most unlikely candidate, had dropped the first babies. I had Naima next. Then came Miquita, Andi’s daughter with Robin, a Scotsman, in April 1984. Next Tessa got together with Andi’s brother Sean (keeping it in the family) and their daughter, Phoebe, was born in 1984, about eighteen months after I had Naima. I was honoured to be present at both Miquita’s and Phoebe’s births. (Tessa and I were hanging out together at the flat Bruce and I later moved to in Fulham Court when she went into labour. As we waited for the ambulance, I whispered calming words in her ear, between rushing to finish the food I was making to bring to the hospital—a batch of fried chicken wings and a potato salad.)

I wouldn’t change these times for anything in the world. But they were also tough. Andi and I were teenage mothers living in a city where neither of us had our parents, realising that motherhood can feel lonely as well as glorious. We didn’t have much money. We weren’t always sure how to be ourselves—young women of colour—and also be everything we aspired to be for our daughters. We were strong and capable, but also vulnerable. So we propped each other up through some joyful, beautiful moments and some intensely painful ones. Non-judgemental, forgiving, we carry each other through by honouring who we are as individuals.

The promises of love are manifold, but nothing is as abundant as the hands of sisterhood. With Andi and Ari (and my other beloveds: you know who you are), I am blessed. The closeness I shared with those two women is something else. With them I became more.

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