My family

A trip to Sydney a few weeks ago to attend my niece’s wedding has prompted me to write this post about my wonderful family.

I am one of six children. All of us are married with children -and our marriages are still intact. That must be a record. Also, my parents will be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary next year. My parents have 24 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

It is strange, but I often don’t feel that I belong to this family. I am not sure why, but I think I feel that I don’t deserve to be part of this extraodinary group of people. My siblings have all excelled in everything they have done, while I appear to have just muddled along.

My older brother, Sangoma, is a very clever and hard-working man. He is married to Winnie, an academic, who is very astute. They have three super achieving children. I have always held Sangoma in awe because he is my older brother. Even today, I am careful about what I say when I am with him because I sub-consciously expect him to pick me out as he used to do when we were chidren.

Sangoma and his family live quite close to us, but we rarely see them. They are a lot wealthier than we are, and they have a very different set of friends and interests. I do not begrudge them a single cent of what they have got because they deserve it.

I am the second eldest. After me comes Mona Lisa, my sister. They have four children who are also achievers. She is married to Hyperactive, who, through sheer courage and hard work, is a successful businessman. They live in an upmarket area of Sydney, and are very generous people, involved in a number of charities and good works.

The wisest of us all is my younger brother, Dalai Lama. Ever since we were children, we have been very close. He is married to Florence, who is one of the kindest and most generous persons I know. They have six lovely children who have or will do well in life, thanks mainly due to outstanding parenting. Dalia Lama has a senior position in a large company, with all the stress that goes with it.  Florence somehow manages to look after her family, and whoever may be visiting, and still works as a nurse. They really amaze and humble me. Dalai Lama and I don’t always see eye to eye on political topics, and we have had some real blow-ups. But this has not and never will detract from the high regard in which I hold him and Florence.

Next in line is my sister, Roadrunner, who is married to Didgeree Doo. They have four extremely talented children. Roadrunner likes to keep herself fit by taking part in long-distance marathons. Her quietness is complemented by Didgeree’s amazing people skills. He has a keen sense of humour, and is one of the funniest people I know. He also has this uncanny nack of making people feel good about themselves.

My youngest sister Tessie, is married to Mahatma, and they have four children. Tessie is a quiet, loving and generous person, who will do anything to help those who need it. Mahatma is very wise, and is one of those people who are born to be teachers. I have a soft spot for their children, in particular their son, Joe, who reminds me a lot of my own childhood.

Of course, the reason for this great family are the matriarch and patriarch – my dear parents, Mkulubaas and the Mother Provincial. They are both in their 80s, and are still quite active. It really amazes me how they have endured the discomfort of a long flight to Perth to attend their grand-children’s weddings. They are loved by all, and are well looked after by the Sydney family.

 

This post is to be continued.

The wedding

This is one of three posts, covering our trip in Sydney to attend our niece’s wedding.

The eldest of my three sisters, Mona Lisa, and her husband, Hyperactive, have three gorgeous daughters, Betty, Macrolense and Didactic. They also have a son, Pedro, who is their youngest child. Didactic, the youngest of the three daughters, met the man of her life, Mr Chips, and the wedding was planned.

To be quite honest, I was reluctant to go to the wedding because it involved travelling from Perth to Sydney, and we had already gone to Sydney this year for our cruise. I didn’t feel that we could justify the expense, and I really don’t enjoy the long flight. Fortunately, Mother Superior would not have a bar of it, and promised Didactic that we would be there. We had missed Macrolense’s wedding, and she certainly did not want to miss this one. Of course she is correct. Holidays can be organised any time, but family celebrations, like weddings, are unique. If you miss one, there is no second chance.

And so it was last Friday that we eased ourselves into the unbelievably small and uncomfortable seat of a Virgin Blue aircraft bound for Sydney. I will talk about the trip in a separate blog.

On the day of the wedding, Mother Superior and I went to Muti Man’s and Gifted One’s hotel to share a taxi to the church. Mother Superior is quite a game old bird, because we took the monorail. I couldn’t help feeling a strong love for her as she stood in the crowded monorail dressed in her wedding finery.

When we arrived at the church there were already two limousines parked outside. For a moment I thought I had got my times wrong, but when I looked at the kitchy limos, I knew it could not be our wedding. Hyperactive and Mona Lisa have always displayed impeccable taste in everything they do, and this wedding was no exception.

There was a lot of excitement as we were reunited with my family outside the church. They were all there, including Mculubaas, my father and Mother Provincial, my darling mother. I will also write a separate blog about my wonderful family.

We had to wait a while for the bride to arrive at the church because they were held up in the notorious Sydney traffic. I also believe that Didactic had an urgent call of nature when she arrived at the church. At least they had an excuse. We were very late for Muppet’s wedding, and we live close to our church.

The wedding service was magnificent. Because the happy couple are both teachers, they had a boys’ choir that sang the old traditional songs that I really enjoy. It was the best music I had ever heard at a wedding service. I suppose it is a matter of taste, but I absolutely love traditional sacred music and the pipe organ. So many weddings these days have contemporary modern music, which many people enjoy. Give me a pipe organ and a well trained choir any day. I also have my doubts about outside weddings. It certainly looks strange to see a group of people all dressed in their finery on a wind-swept beach, with a celebrant trying to make him or herself heard.

One of the songs at the wedding was Panis Angelicus, which I sang at Muppet and Biggles’s wedding. There was no comparison. I looked at Mother Superior and whispered “That’s not fair”.

After the service, we had the obligatory group photo and then headed off to the reception. We were fortunate to get a ride from my cousin, Carruthers. His lovely wife, Muriel, sat in the kiddies’ seat at the back of their Kluger to make room for us.

The reception was held at an up-market golf club, and it went flawlessly. The food was superb and the music was excellent. I really do think a band makes a huge difference. I do not like to have a discotheque, where some guy tries to justify being there by making stupid remarks and performing silly antics. The speeches were all of an extremely high standard. They were witty without being smutty – and they were interesting. I really hate going to a wedding where the best man tries his best to scrape up all the muck he can about the groom. Why anyone would be interested in knowing that a groom has a penchant for getting really drunk and running around naked is completely beyond me.

I was also impressed with the timing. A few weddings I have been to recently seemed to have speeches that went on and on, and there is very little time for dancing. I have a very short attention span, and can honestly say I was not bored for a second during this wedding.

The evening ended with a happy gathering of people outside waiting for taxis.

The following day, we had a great family gathering at Mona Lisa and Hyperactive’s house. This will be described in my next blog.

I know that we are not having a competition to see who can host the best wedding in the family. If we were, this one would win hands down. I am only glad that our weddings are over, so I don’t have to compete.

Well done Didactic, Mr Chips, Mona Lisa, Hyperactive and Mr Chips’ parents, Snow Queen and Fred Block.