my sisters...

When I was young, due to my bigger family’s propensity of bearing daughters, I never realised that I really had in the vicinity of 10 sisters. Due to the discrepancy in our ages, it probably hindered our ability to form the kind of bond that has formed over the last 6 years or so. There is a closer bond with my aunts closer to my age, and by closer, I mean a difference in age of at least 8 years.

Last night I got to hang out with my aunt, Pelisa, who now lives in P.E working as a nurse and is happily married with 2 children. The preceding sentence though does not describe the woman who was sat across me at the dinner table at Cape Town Fish Market last night. Before we had been presented with the menu, she already had ordered a bottle of Sake to go with her double G&T. This is a woman who probably last partied when Mandoza’s Nkalakatha was top of the charts. She still had space for four more G&T’s and a couple more tequilas, as well as polishing off the majority of that sake, in between tucking into her sushi. Good thing the good nurse was paying.

The great part of the evening though was reminiscing about the frequent occasions she stayed at our house, and reminding me of some of the crap my brother and I got up to when we were young. I laughed too loud at her interpretation of the events which led to my brother fleeing the house out a bathroom window to avoid a beating, which I was left to endure, after we nearly burnt down the house after taking a curiosity to a box of matches and a bag of charcoal.

The greatest part of our evening was how we communicated like equals, despite our age differences, and our family ties. It has not always been easy to open up to older family members, something that runs true for most South African blacks. There was none of the invasive questions that we have come to expect from our elders. i.e. When are you getting married, finding a house, etc.

I hope she travels safely tomorrow, and she makes a speedy return to Cape Town. I made it clear to her visiting P.E is absolutely out of the question; I mean, have you seen that armpit?!

In the meantime, she has potentially set me up with a project that is very exciting for me and which I hope to be able to report on here in the near future.