(usually pronounced more like “nuh mine, nuh mine” in the lilting patois of the Caribbean islands.)

I was at a book reading last night where the author (who has the most smoothly hypnotic voice i have ever heard) read a section from her new book about a time when she was deeply grieving. The women in her village surround her, place their hands on her and say gently “no mind, no mind”. 

I can’t even explain the feelings that went through me when she read this… there was this rush of heat and for just a moment i was taken back to my childhood and the warmth and good smells of my grandmother’s kitchen.  In that instant i had once again flung my arms around my mama, buried my face in her bosom, sobbing about whatever drama had upset me that day (or moment or second).  She would rest her hands on the back of my neck, stroke it gently for just a moment and tell me “nuh mine, nuh mine…” before getting me a treat and moving on to her household responsibilities. 

I can still remember how those two words and the simple touch of her hands would somehow, magically fix anything and everything that was ever wrong with me.