_{Askar Abayev from Pexels}

Patricia and her four siblings only know and relate well with their father's family because their dad only wanted to keep them close to his relatives. Patricia didn't know her mother's relatives except for their grandmother who they often visit once in a while.

Every year, they choose to spend the festive season in their dad's hometown, and once in a while at weekends, their mother tried taking them along to visit her own mother, but they weren't that close to the remaining families. One day their mother was sick and was taken to her hometown. She only lived for three days after which she gave up the ghost.

The father spent some days with his children before travelling back home. Not long after their mum's death, Patricia started receiving calls from her uncle (her mother's brother).

After much introduction trying to explain how he is to her mother, Patricia found out it was their distant uncle who was trying to fill in the gap by reuniting with them.

Patricia's uncle asked of her siblings and the call ended. Since she knew her uncle from that day, she would always call to say hi and hello just to keep the relationship stronger and growing.

It took Patricia and her siblings to get familiarized with other distant relatives as they all were giving different excuses and trying to blame their mother for keeping her children away from her own relative. “It is always important to let your kids be familiar with both families and not try to keep them away because such a thing might be dangerous in the future”. This was her Uncle talking and blaming their mother. But is that necessary anymore?

The best is to bring them together so they can relate with other relatives including cousins, niece and nephew so that when they meet in future, they will know they are family and all the same. Though it's late but never too late as the bond can be stronger as communication keeps going among them.

Few years later, Patricia's uncle called to invite her to his daughter's wedding as she was assured of meeting other family members who she hasn't heard of. She informed her siblings and one of them volunteered to go with her to represent others. They never wanted their uncle to feel they don't have business with them but had to attend the wedding.

On the wedding day, the family were excited to see how far they have grown and it took a while to introduce others. It was as if Patricia and her siblings were celebrated more than the wedding itself because to them, their mother is still alive and breathing through them.

Patricia felt emotional seeing them but she just had to be closer to them and she promised to always call and not be far from them because she realized what their mother did which wasn't good enough. She never wanted her and the siblings to turn into distant children, and for this reason, they made it an obligation to always visit their grandma and never make her feel depressed or sad of losing a child.

This is my entry to the Dreem Word of the Week (dreem-wotw) prompt “Distant".

Thanks for your time