THIRTY by Sylvia Tweneboah-Koduah, Esq., featuring Sylvia seated in pink beneath the gold book title

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THIRTY — by Sylvia Tweneboah-Koduah, Esq.

Ten lessons on dreams, purpose, people, and becoming yourself.

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Dedication

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Dedication

TO MY FATHER Elder Tweneboah-Koduah You saw something in me before I had any evidence it would become anything. Long before the applications, the examinations and the years of waiting, you had already placed the idea of law in my mind. Neither of us knew how far the road would stretch or how many times I would doubt it was worth walking. You never did. When people call me Lawyer now, I hear more than a title. Underneath, it stands a father who pictured a future he could not yet prove and handed his certainty to a daughter who had none of her own. Daddy, if choosing this profession was one of the dreams of my life, trusting I could ever hold it was one of the gifts of yours. This book is proof that your faith in me was not misplaced. TO MY MOTHER Mrs. Florence Tweneboah-Koduah (Nana Ama Nyarkoa) My mother loved me in a way that refused to let a hard season become a final verdict. There was a stretch of this journey when I had decided to stop. No more applications, no more waiting on admissions and no more room for another disappointment. I had made peace with giving up. She would not allow it. Every time I said I was done, she told me I would try again. She treated my despair as temporary even when I had already named it permanent and kept the dream alive until I could carry it myself. Mummy, I became a lawyer, but the certainty that walked me there was yours before it was mine. When I look at the woman I am now, I can still see your hands in her shaping. Truly, “it is positive, not negative “ TO MY LATE GODMOTHER Mrs. Victoria Enyonam Senanu I still do not know how to speak about you in the past tense. It has been years since you left, yet there are moments when I still find myself expecting your call. Grief has changed with time, but it has never really left. I have learned to live with the fact that there will always be things I wish I could tell you. I became a lawyer. I turned thirty. Those are two things you would have been so proud to see. I wish you could have watched me become the woman you once believed I could be. There are moments when I look at my life now and think about how much you have missed and how much I would have loved for you to witness. You knew a version of me that was still becoming. You loved her before she had accomplished anything worth celebrating and you believed in her before she had much evidence to offer you. That kind of love stays with a person. I am still learning what it means to live without you. Some days are easier than others. Some memories still hurt more than I expect them to, but I am here. I am living the life we once spoke about and I hope that wherever you are, you know that your girl kept going. I wish you had seen my THIRTY. Until we meet again, I love you and I am still your girl. TO THE PEOPLE WHO REVIEWED MY EARLY CHAPTERS Thank you. You read this book before it was finished. Before the lessons were fully formed and the stories found their final shape. You gave your hours, your attention and your honesty. You challenged what needed strengthening, encouraged what deserved to remain and helped me see the manuscript more clearly than I could see it alone. Writing may be a solitary act, but books are rarely created in isolation. This one is better because each of you took the care to engage with it honestly and tell me the truth. I am deeply grateful for your generosity, your encouragement and your willingness to walk part of this journey with me. Benjamin Nana Osei Alberta Bossman Sedinam Nunana Sebuabe Amina Mohammed Essuman Stephanie Egyiri Cabrah Samira Mina Alhassan Barbara Asantewaa Janice Owusua Marfo Albert Aboagye Tweneboah-Koduah Claudia Obeng Augustine Ohri Thank you for reading my work with care.