An open letter to Cousin B
Dear Cousin,
How are you? You had your 13th birthday earlier this month, and I feel compelled to write this letter to you. We bear the same name and our family members say we are similar. I laugh when I hear you try to sound like Celine Dion when you sing, makes me wonder if I was that amusing at your age. I chuckle whenever I watch that video we made on Christmas eve last year, how I asked you to say thank you to your mom for how much hard work she’s done this last year and you said “I’m grateful to my Parents, especially my dad, for everything.” Maybe it was best to smile, your mom and I, we both knew better. I see you wear my old wigs, eager to look like the stars you see on T.V, that’s also unlike me, I never grew up liking much T.V as you do. Maybe we are similar and maybe we are not, I love you regardless.
When you came back from your first term of boarding house, your mom complained how you lost almost everything you took to school, I thought of how to help you handle stuff better. I don’t know if I can help with that, but I think you’ll be fine, eventually.
So, dear Shalom you’re officially thirteen, you’re a teenager. How did your birthday go? I know you’re in school and nothing too big can be done, but your mom told me she was going to visit you, and prepare the foods that you requested, that’ll be all for now.
I hope you are not afraid to ask questions, because those teenage years come with a lot of raging questions. I hope that nobody jeers at you for sitting in the front of the class, because you're short sighted. And, if they do, I hope you know how to stand up to them (you could ask me over the holidays if you don’t). I don’t think I did well enough warding off bullying and approval addiction. During my boarding house days, I wanted so desperately for people to like me, I would ask people to fill questionnaires(what we called slum books), about me. Trust those bullies to unleash their own insecurities on me in those books. I was taunted for having a protruded bum, for having parents who visited regularly, for speaking good English, for refusing to cheat on tests and exams, and what have you. I never knew how to handle such rejections, and I cried through school. I hope you do not cry, or give in to their misery, which is no fault of yours.
The teenage years come with a lot of questions, and growth and development. I hope you’re not scared of any at all. Dear Cousin, ask questions as often as necessary, your peers may jeer at you but you’ll never lose out for asking questions. If you want the answers to be from your dad, or your mom, or me, or big mommy, you could write them in a book, so you don’t forget when you’re on holidays, or speak with any of us on phone. If you have questions in school subjects, ask, please.
Also, I think you’ll thrive in the debating society and/or the press club, give it a try. Try out sports too, and don’t give too much attention to the many ravaging pimples that may come (I heard it runs in the family, so prepare🤣) they’ll likely get better as you grow older. If you want to have a meal at the dining hall, don’t allow big girlism stop you o, food is good to nourish your developing body.
I love you my darling girl, I’ll see you as soon as this hustling life affords me time.
With Love,
Auntie P.
How are you? You had your 13th birthday earlier this month, and I feel compelled to write this letter to you. We bear the same name and our family members say we are similar. I laugh when I hear you try to sound like Celine Dion when you sing, makes me wonder if I was that amusing at your age. I chuckle whenever I watch that video we made on Christmas eve last year, how I asked you to say thank you to your mom for how much hard work she’s done this last year and you said “I’m grateful to my Parents, especially my dad, for everything.” Maybe it was best to smile, your mom and I, we both knew better. I see you wear my old wigs, eager to look like the stars you see on T.V, that’s also unlike me, I never grew up liking much T.V as you do. Maybe we are similar and maybe we are not, I love you regardless.
When you came back from your first term of boarding house, your mom complained how you lost almost everything you took to school, I thought of how to help you handle stuff better. I don’t know if I can help with that, but I think you’ll be fine, eventually.
So, dear Shalom you’re officially thirteen, you’re a teenager. How did your birthday go? I know you’re in school and nothing too big can be done, but your mom told me she was going to visit you, and prepare the foods that you requested, that’ll be all for now.
I hope you are not afraid to ask questions, because those teenage years come with a lot of raging questions. I hope that nobody jeers at you for sitting in the front of the class, because you're short sighted. And, if they do, I hope you know how to stand up to them (you could ask me over the holidays if you don’t). I don’t think I did well enough warding off bullying and approval addiction. During my boarding house days, I wanted so desperately for people to like me, I would ask people to fill questionnaires(what we called slum books), about me. Trust those bullies to unleash their own insecurities on me in those books. I was taunted for having a protruded bum, for having parents who visited regularly, for speaking good English, for refusing to cheat on tests and exams, and what have you. I never knew how to handle such rejections, and I cried through school. I hope you do not cry, or give in to their misery, which is no fault of yours.
The teenage years come with a lot of questions, and growth and development. I hope you’re not scared of any at all. Dear Cousin, ask questions as often as necessary, your peers may jeer at you but you’ll never lose out for asking questions. If you want the answers to be from your dad, or your mom, or me, or big mommy, you could write them in a book, so you don’t forget when you’re on holidays, or speak with any of us on phone. If you have questions in school subjects, ask, please.
Also, I think you’ll thrive in the debating society and/or the press club, give it a try. Try out sports too, and don’t give too much attention to the many ravaging pimples that may come (I heard it runs in the family, so prepare🤣) they’ll likely get better as you grow older. If you want to have a meal at the dining hall, don’t allow big girlism stop you o, food is good to nourish your developing body.
I love you my darling girl, I’ll see you as soon as this hustling life affords me time.
With Love,
Auntie P.
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