Day 87 of the Cut

Today I rested because the last two days were hectic. My cousin and nephew reached early yesterday. My nephew is a teenager now! We talked a lot about Ireland and my cousin wants me to be there with him in the future. I suppose I could go there once things settle down here at home. I was a little nervous to see my cousin after so long because after my father died he wasn’t able to visit us. He was able to visit my father a month before he passed away by sheer luck. He and my father were close.

My mom’s sister his mother was a Geography Professor and a single mother. My mom pretty much raised him because she worked full time. When my mom and dad got married he looked up to my dad and he took his advice on several matters like education and jobs. My grandfather- my mother’s father- was already retired so he wasn’t able to guide him much about the latest job trends of that time. When my dad moved to Nigeria he set an example of what was possible for everyone. Moving out of the country was unheard of at that time and this motivated my cousin to move to Australia for his first job overseas. Before he left for Australia he got married to my sister-in-law who is not from our community. My dad supported their marriage because he knew times were changing and arranged marriages are no longer the norm. He was the only one who stood by them firmly so I think my cousin really respected him for that. Soon after that my nephew was born and they moved to different countries for a few years. Finally settling in Ireland.

My cousin is an Instrumentation Engineer and my sister-in-law is a Medical Technology Scientist. Their son my nephew is my favourite nephew because he is the only one I meet so regularly. He is one of three nephews. He has had several passions growing up. He loves collecting Pokémon cards and played the game on his switch all the time as a child. He has a passion for geology taking after his grandmother and he also knows how to play the bass. His passion for music is new but it is intense and his knowledge about music already surpasses mine by several degrees. I am truly proud of the person he is becoming. I can see the passion in his eyes. He is smart and confident about the things that he knows. What he knows is vast. He has already travelled 11 countries so far and that is an incredible source of knowledge. In the brief couple of hours that I have met him I loved having a conversation with him. He can’t speak anything other than English and his accent is Irish so there is that. The anthropologist in me finds it fascinating to see how different members of the family grow in different environments.

A surprise visit yesterday was from another cousin of mine who actually lives close to us. She is a Doctor by profession and she came by with biryani. With her was my oldest niece her daughter. My sister is probably one of the most stable people I have ever met. She knows how to handle stress like a pro considering she is an Anesthesiologist. She also makes a mean biryani. I have seen her work so hard to get to where she is. It is nothing short of inspiring. She never put her books down, constantly writing notes and reading. She and her husband are both Doctors. I find her husband a source of inspiration too because he volunteered for Doctors Without Borders at one point. He also manages an entire hospital now which is no small feat. Their daughter my niece is now in her first year of college. She is probably the most mature person I have ever met. She is studying to be a psychologist. I was extremely impressed by that. She has always held her cool and is very adept socially. She has her hobbies but she never boasts about them. We used to colour in colouring books together when she was a child. But I moved to Canada and we lost touch briefly. When I came back I learned that she liked to read so I share some of my books with her from time to time. Its good to know that at least someone in my family likes to read. She too has travelled to several countries and her knowledge about the world is fascinating. She also happens to love pasta and yesterday she really liked the pasta I made. I was so happy when I saw her yesterday.

Obviously my day didn’t go according to routine and the Cut was pretty much on hold but I didn’t mind because I met my extended family after a long time. I get a mental boost every time I meet them. We do have our differences and we are from entirely different generations considering the decade long gap between us but there is mutual love and affection which really drives me to do better every day. I missed some more family and wished they had come by too but it wasn’t possible this time. Perhaps next time we will have a get together where we can chill out and gossip some more. Until then I will keep working on bettering myself. Day 87 was a success!