Choose Your Siblings.

April 10^th is National Siblings Day. Though not an official holiday, this day celebrates family, especially siblings. If I were to choose a sibling’s day, it would have been last weekend. While we are pretty close and cordial with my two siblings, I do not recall a time when we spent a weekend together as adults, just the three of us.

I come from a small family. I have one brother and one sister. And yes, I am a middle child. What are those things that are said about middle children by the way? I’ll pick the good ones hehe. You tend to be tight (or not) when in a small family. Maybe it’s because you have fewer people to have your back (or fight with hehe) so you invest much. However, there could be a downside for small families. I remember when Dad left us in 2021 we moved from a family of 5 to 4. It felt like six people had departed. I wondered if we were like 6 kids and one family member left, would we feel the gap left wasn’t as big?

My folks may have gone into family planning way too early. Many of my age mates are more than three siblings, unlike the Maranga’s. Mum at one time joked that she wished she had got one or two more kids to keep them company with Mzee in their old age. It ended there, a wish.

My bro lives Majuu (abroad) so when he comes home we adjust our calendars to maximise the time with him. He came about three weeks ago to visit. We are still doing and planning those things families do after the loss of a parent. When you have summer bunnies (though he’s more of a summer mubaba) visiting home time just flies. They are busy every day till they depart. It’s like there is never enough time to catch up with relatives and friends even as they attend to their personal manenos.

My bro and sis have been curious about my love affair with Nanyuki so this time around we planned to visit my favourite small town. I wanted to show them what takes me there but also hoped that the love bug for this town would bite them too. We set out last Saturday morning and as usual, I was in high spirits driving towards the murima (mountain). I felt like a tour guide showing them where I buy trees to plant on the farm, fruits and vegetables to take back home, where to stop for bathroom breaks, to grab some cardamom tea and such.

We arrived safely and I particularly enjoyed being driven most of the journey by Levi. Now I know why mummy Shark hardly volunteers to drive when on trips. We went straight to the shamba. I felt particularly proud to show them what I’ve been working on for the last many months. We were there for a while as I showed them around. I even introduced them to my neighbour just in case she wondered why I always came alone. Now she knows I’m related to serious Kenyans, and Americans too hehe.

We left the farm after a few hours and headed into town to locate our bnb. I had booked a two-bed flat where my bro and I shared one room and my sis got the other one.   Staying in the same house brought childhood memories. Only that this time around we weren’t fighting. Thankfully sibling rivalry ended along the way and now we are sibling supporters and enablers.

Once we checked in and had some tea I took them for a tour of the town Kidogo. We ended up at the Jibs restaurant in town for dinner. I like the place for the rustic ambience and good food. Plus the quantities are generous. Food is my love language so Jibs has a winning combination hehe.

We caught up over dinner discussing random and important stuff. Sometimes we bond with loved ones without a particular agenda. Spending time is the agenda and bonding soaks in slowly like the bread socked into the mushroom soup at Jibs hehe. We passed by Nanyuki Sports Club to show them where we play golf while in town before we retired to bed.

We woke up the next morning to the sight of Mt Kenya and my bro took enough pictures to savour the moment. That view always gets me. We then checked out of our abode and headed to Java at Cedar Mall for breakfast. I decided to do some sibling coaching at breakfast.  We reflected on the year, how we’d like the remaining 60 or so days of 2024 to look like and our hopes for 2025. We shared openly and committed to keeping each other accountable. We also agreed on how best to continue supporting our dear mother.

That is a breakfast and weekend I will cherish for a long time. I’m not sure what my parents did to ensure their children became friends in adulthood. Whatever it is, I hope it can be inherited by my baby sharks. That they will choose each other when grown up. I recently listened to a clip where some millionaire Mzee said success is when your adult kids want to spend time with you. And I’ll add that when they also want to spend time with each other. My fellow wazazi (parents) that’s my prayer for you too.

We passed by the farm one more time after breakfast. My neighbour, mama Muriuki gifted us strawberries and tree tomatoes from her farm. Country living has a simplicity that’s just magical. We then hit the road back to Nairobi and bought some fruits along the way as is my habit. It was funny when they dropped off the boot on the highway and we had to stop and walk back to pick them. We also stopped at a new joint in Sagana for one more selfie.

Folks we don’t choose the families we are born into. But if I were to choose my siblings today, I would still choose Lilian and Levi. Yes, all our names start with L hehe. Would you choose your family or siblings today if you had the chance? If not, what can you do to change that?