On Ancestral Siblings

It’s the international sibling day.

I could write a whole plethora on siblings, from sibling rivalry to sibling bonding. But there are siblings of our immediate ancestors we normally refer to these immediate ancestral siblings as uncles and aunts. Then we have immediate ancestors immediate ancestor siblings which is very concisely put as great -aunts or great- uncles. I am still grappling with the issue of why grandparents siblings cannot be a Grand-Uncle or a Grand-aunt.

Uncles  were never much of a challenge, I could wrap the paternal ones right round my little finger like I could twirl my curls. The maternal one, well he is in the land of uncle Sam, so that puts him out of the map. It has been the aunts and their individuality that is truly fascinating.

There is Aunt Janice less said the better about her, she could chew rocks for breakfast and release a torrent of fluid from her lachrymal glands. Generally make us go either wobbly with fear, or liquefy due to guilt. There are kids from the school where she taught who sprout rhyming words in the name or poetry, or just stutter to end. Then there are students who just adore her. My secret ambition was to sing like her, now I have hit ground reality, that my choir would be between toads and donkeys.

Then there is great aunt Wilma, she can keep you glued wide-eyed at one end of spectrum with her amazing travel stories, and the next minute it could be a whiplash of wit, that emerges from the intrinsic collaboration of her vocal cords and vocabulary.  Or she could just freeze you with a look. There is no telling of which mood prevails when.

Sometimes I wonder if this could be because both the ancestors belong to the teaching fraternity.

For aunt Kristy, despite  yanking young’uns from their mother’s wombs, and spanking the thus ejected young’uns on the bottom,  (she is certified by Royal College of Obstetrician and gynaecologist to do it.) when she not ejecting baby she is a great one for travelling, gardening and is the champion of the canine cause. Somehow she has not internalized the design of Oliver Evans .. he created it to cool air for yellow fever patients. Maybe because before she could lay her hands on it, the US Physician John Gorrie, hijacked it, and came up with a refrigerator in 1844. Aunt Kristy is sight for sore souls, with her young’un yanking, spanking and canine care.

Its Aunt Minnie who makes my day with her dimples and sparkling eyes, and she is the best sibling my immediate ancestor could have, the only aunt to give me a hug like mom, keeps a secret like a sister, and share’s love like a friend. God bless you, my immediate ancestor’s best sibling.

May the good Lord bless you siblings of my immediate ancestors.