My siblings came over for dinner as planned, two weekends ago. Things went as expected, and despite what I am about to say, I don’t mean it in a bad way. Yes, my siblings showed up late and nearly compromised the integrity of my pasta (um, you know I’m a drama queen, right?), and they exited the car arguing, and we spent a good hour on a heated conversation about the best way for Brother #2 to handle a particularly thorny situation. Not surprisingly we had differing opinions that we weren’t afraid to share at the top of our lungs. My mom called me during this heated conversation and she offered to come over and pick my brothers up because she was afraid the neighbour below me would call the cops to complain about the noise. We’re a chaotic bunch but there was comfort in the fact that anywhere the four of us are gathered, we fall into the well-established patterns of relating to each other.

Dinner was chicken parmesan, caesar salad and garlic bread, and we let D.airy Queen take care of dessert.

My sister and Brother #2 slept over (Brother #1 wasn’t very sold on the idea of hanging out with us to begin with, but he was also working at the crack of dawn the following day). The best thing about having family sleeping over is you can head to bed before your guests do, which is exactly what I did.

We woke up, watched Nigeria’s first football (soccer) game in the World Cup and enjoyed pancakes, bacon and eggs for brunch.

Everyone had a good time and they want to do it again. My goal is to play hostess to them in this particular way every other month. It’ll give me a chance to try new recipes and help us transition our relationship into an adult one.

***

I turned 31 five days ago and 31 feels a lot like 30. The year went by quickly, but at the same time it feels like a long time since I showed up woefully late for my 30th birthday dinner. I didn’t have any plans in mind and at first I was going to try and get something organized but then the day passed and it just didn’t feel like it was worth the hassle. I’m beyond thankful to have made it to 31 and I guess I’m happy celebrating in a lowkey way. Gone are days of dinner out followed by clubbing. Woe!

***

I didn’t exactly sit at home on my birthday though: Brother #2 had his graduation ceremony in the morning (my mom, sister and I hollered when they called his name; it’s tradition). My baby brother is growing up. It’s just amazing to see my younger siblings grow into adults (selfish and disrespectful at times). Anyway, I didn’t spend too much time mulling over that because my sister and I left to go camping with friends right after the graduation. We had a good time. The usual tensions that come up when six adults with different ideas on a number of topics have to work together came up.

***

I managed to kill this beautiful hibiscus plant. I’m really sad about it and I can’t figure out how it went from a beautiful and vibrant plant to a half dead and sad-looking plant but I’m hoping the fresh soil and plant food I’ve given it will do some good. So much for being a green thumb!

***

Last but not least, there was an earthquake in our city today! The epicentre of the magnitude 5.0 quake (I sound like a news reporter) was about 70km from our city. I was at work when the earthquake happened and we definitely felt it. I got my workout running down 13 flights of stairs to evacuate the building. At first we were the only office in the building running down the stairs but by the time I got to the ninth floor, people started joining us in the stairwell, which increased my speed. Luckily all went well and we eventually returned to our office. Of course it all felt very anticlimactic after that.

And that’s where I’ll close this very mundane entry.

Filed under: Family, Mundane by jummy