There was this evening we were all at home and I will never forget, we had just finished eating dinner, and everyone was scattered around the living room, my mom was sitting with her wrapper tied loosely on her waist , and fanning herself with a book, and then my younger sister was fiddling with her phone, while my kids were running up and down like they had no single plan to ever get tired.
Then suddenly, my mom looked at me and she said,
"You know that sometimes I feel like everything that has happened in this family is just written in the stars somehow".
Me I just raised my eyebrow. " Hmmm Mommy ,What do you mean by that o?"
She chuckled softly, "yes na you think about it, see the way we struggle, the way we fight, and still somehow find our way back to laughter."
My younger sister then laughed, dropping her phone, "Mummy, that one is because we do not have choice o, you will shout at us, then later you will still call us to come and eat your food."
Everyone burst out laughing, and even I had to agree, that’s how we were fire and water all the time, but at the end of the day, we still came back together.
That night, as the kids finally settled and we were watching TV, I kept thinking about what my mom said, you know she was right, our lives were far from perfect, there were times when we did not even know how food would reach the table, times when fights would break out over small issues, but then there were also moments of pure joy.
I remember during last year’s Christmas, we didn’t really have much ,my plan was to just cook rice and maybe fry some chicken. But somehow, neighbors dropped meat, my sister brought drinks, and even my cousin showed up with some small chops, Before we knew it, the table was full.
"You see," my mom had said that day, pointing at the spread, it was written in the stars that we will not lack joy.
And you know honestly?, she was right, because in that moment, the house was filled with laughter, kids running, music playing, and it felt like wealth itself had entered our compound.
My sister leaned close to me that night and whispered, She said sometimes I think the universe is just playing tricks on us, we always think we will not make it, then somehow we do."
I replied, "Maybe that is just our story, the flame will burn, but it will not consume us in any way ."
And even now, when things get really tough, I hold onto those words , I think about my family, I think about the way we argue, the way we cry, but also the way we laugh and hold each other up again , and I realize that maybe it is not coincidence , maybe it is not just luck, maybe it truly is written in the stars that no matter what happens, we will always find our way back to each other somehow.
Because family, at the end of the day, is that fire that burns through every darkness.
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