Brothers and Sisters..

I really like to watch the Brothers and Sisters series..somehow it reminds me of my own family, five siblings and a mom. Even though we don't have all the drama of finding out that the dad had an affair (thank God for that!) and we don't really "fight" every time we meet up, the dynamics of a good family is what what we have in common with the Walkers. My siblings and I, we are really close and when my mom had her breast cancer operation, we got even closer. The hardship and misery that we went through has shown me how grateful I am to have such great siblings. My brother who is two years younger realised that he now takes over the role of being the man of the house when our dad passed away and I am proud to say that he is doing it very well indeed. Even though sometimes I worried that he was busy taking care of everyone that he forgets to take care of himself. My other brother, eight years younger, is an ''arty person, the best way to describe him. He is still "searching" for his true self..at least that's what I think he is doing..but he really carried out his responsibility in helping out in caring for our mom. Even though sometime I would have to remind him to cut down on his jamming sessions and spend more time with our mom, he is a good kid. My two younger sisters, are much more matured than their real age. I guess that came from the experience of growing up without a dad (our dad passed away when they were five and three years old) and the boarding school life they had since they were thirteen. It is particularly hard to see my sisters going through the process of healing after our mom passed away, as they were the closest to her. My mom really made sure that they were protected and taught the best way she knew how and they have indeed grown up to be two wonderful young women.

I was "spring cleaning" my phone where I came across all sms I got from my siblings during the time when my mom was sick. The messages were about various things like the medicines we should pick up from the hospital, or the time for chemo and who was going with my mom, and endless of "kirim" food sms to who was going to the hospital canteen (which serves delicious asam pedas and sambal belacan) and the simple messages of saying thank you and "I love you". For us, saying "I love you" is a must thing that we do every time we talk to each other, thanks to our mom who insisted that we need to tell that to the people we love every time we have the chance.

When our mom passed away, we worked together to figure out how to sort things out - to bring the "jenazah" back to our home town, to do the tahlil, to take care of our house and also the details of how to handle the "harta peninggalan'. Alhamdulillah, so far, we don't argue about the money or land my mother had, we always decided to share it equally among us. I know of some siblings who don't see eye to eye when it comes to this.

Now, even though I am so far away from them and I miss them terribly, I know that they are there for me and me for them, because now, with both our dad and mom gone, what we have is each other. My mom asked me to promise her before she passed away to take care of my siblings. I know as the eldest, that is my responsibility and I did promise her and I do intend to carry out that promise the best way I know how...Insya Allah.

Don't be bitter, be better...