A HAPPY DEATH ANNIVERSARY TO YOU....

the 27th of Sept 2008 was a day i wasn't looking forward to. It happened to be my grandpa's and grandma's death day (bless their souls) and mum came up with this great idea, a few months back, of honouring their souls by having the parish priest celebrate a mass for their souls, saying a few prayers over their graves and providing my uncles and aunties and their children with breakfast and lunch ("Grandma would feel so proud!", mum said) Knowing how much grandma had done for her children and her children's children, I shared (as much as i could) in my mum's enthusiasm and said, "yea, why not?!". On the 26th of Sept, on my way home, i groaned inside. Being a co-hostess (or whatever you call a person who helps the main hostess) is not an easy job-you'll have to engage in all the pleasantries of the occassion, smile in an appropriate manner (it shouldn't be too wide either), serve the people around with refreshments in a very quiet and polite way (ugh!), shouldn't laugh or talk too loud, answer the questions politely even though you feel like strangling the quesstionner, etc.,etc,....and worst of all, CONTROL THE KIDS!...

The next day, we went to the grave, decorated it with flowers and candles, attended the 1st morning mass, said a few prayers over the grave and walked back home with our relatives. The kids were the first ones to gather around me while i was unlocking the door and they pushed and shoved each other, chattering away in their shrill voices about their latest adventures. I wearily got down to buiseness- making juice to satisfy those tiny, parched throats, setting the fire so that mum can make tea over it (we use the prehistoric method of cooking and heating food...we stopped using the stove that works on gas a long time back)...after the initial refreshments, i sit down in the dining room and watch the kids play around the dining table. Miraculously, they weren't running around but were playing with their hands and fingers. They shout and bawl and hooray and fight with each other. The entire thing is a mess and i find it difficult to figure out what's going on. I politely interrupt and ask about the rules of the game and they all scream it out, all at the same time. I get a rough idea and join in. When i successsfully start winning, the eldest and the most smartest stands up and says, " I QUIT!". Very soon, they flock around me and start asking riddles like:

KIDS: A bird was flying in the air and happened to lay an egg but the egg didn't hit the ground. Why?

ME: coz twas wearin an underwear

KIDS: NOOooooooooo.....

ME: Aaaaah, i dunno

KIDS: coz it had it's zip CLOSED.....HaHAhA!!...

ME: hey, not fair! that was cheatin!

and the kids do the red-indian dance around me.

Just when i was starting to enjoy myself, mum says,"It's time for breakfast" and i regretfully leave the dining table. The rest of the day turned out to be quite boring but bearable- serving the kids breakfast, serving the big people in the next batch, sitting down with the whole lot to say the rosary (i slept through half of it) and later settling down for lunch.

For lunch, i sat down last with the gossipy aunties and everything went well until they started talking about marriage proposals and the like...

Aunty 1:....she's a sweet girl basically, but she's a little dark and short...

A2: Hhmmmm, yes, now, that's a problem...

(i glumly observe that their own daughters don't happen to be beauty queens themselves)

A3: and did you know that so and so didn't agree to that proposal because he got to know that that devil-of-a-girl had a boy friend?

A4: Oooooo...what a mess she's in...

(i gulp and wonder if anybody would if they digged out the "skeletons in my closet")

A5: the youth these days are simply impossible...especially the girls....too much of an attitude problem...blah,blah,blah....

I feel slightly uncomfortable and pissed off. one would think that their children (who are married off) were perfect and didn't have problems of their own. I've lost my appetite and i long for the companionship of those care-free kids who are playing upstairs...