So I called my grand ma and my folks in Nigeria and just told them that I was getting married. Of course my grandma was thrilled! Its like the second best thing for a young lady. The first is finishing college and the third is having a son. I told her that he was "Oyinbo Black nwoke" (which means A foreign black man) I tried explaining that he had a fair complexion similar to my aunt Helen that he wasn't "Ocha" (white...even though there is nothing wrong with white guys) She understood and she was excited.
Its kind of hard when half of your family is in a different country, you kind of feel alone especially when you are closer to that half. In Nigeria most women have like seven to ten kids so some of my Aunts are like around my age or a tad bit older and while I respect them as my seniors in my family around elders we gossip and shop in the streets.
I remember being like 12 and staying in the dorms at Enugu University with my aunt and her friends. Or going to the market early in the morning to buy stockfish, beans, bread and canned tomatoes then going to get my hair cornrowed with my aunts.
Needless to say I miss them alot. I wish I could go back and eat some of my grandma's cooking. You can smell her stews up the street. Or going to church early Sunday morning in my grandpa's old yellow car, driving on dirt roads makes you appreciate American pot holes.
I miss my grandfather the most. I have not been to his grave and I feel really shitty about it...I miss having talks with him. His proverbs about life and trying to do the right thing even with folks you don't really like. "You enemy should not know that he or she is your enemy because the rain falls on your door and his alike"
this was going to be a post about weddings but I guess it became a glimpse in to the Africa I know and miss.
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