The true measure of family

My parents are divorced – I am not sure I even mentioned it – and both have been married to different people for many years now, so my sister and I are completely used to the blended family thing. From the age of 12 onwards, we lived with my mom, stepdad, stepsister and stepbrother (although we don’t use the “step” prefix), and now my sons call my mom and stepdad, grandma and grandpa. My dad lives with my stepmom, half-sister and another stepsister, and although they don’t live in the same country as us, my kids have come to know them as nanna and nanny.

My husband has 2 sisters, both living in another country, one of them is currently visiting Canada, so my sons are getting to know their aunt and cousins, which is nice because they rarely get to see one another. Today is their last day, so I told my 4 year old that we are going to the airport to see them off, he nodded in agreement and said “yes, I know”, then proceeded to inform me “daddy is going because it’s his family, and I am going because it’s mine and my brothers family too, but, ummm, mommy, that is not your family!”

I let him continue with his thoughts and asked who he thought was my family – “grandma and nanna” (my mom and dad), was his response. I started to explained to him that everyone was my family – grandma, grandpa, nanna, nanny, aunty sids, aunty lis, aunty sauda, aunty mooda, and uncle marlon – and he replied “Oh my god! wow! that’s huge! What kind of car did you have?”

Canada Day & the past 10 years

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This past Sunday was Canada Day aka Canadian independence day, I wanted to blog about it then, but as you may know I was in the middle of some ‘blog renovations’! (We went strawberry picking)

When I moved to Canada about 11 years ago, I was devastated, to say the least. At 18, my life was consumed with friends and rebelling against my parents, and there was nothing that I wanted more than to be left alone in Trinidad with my friends, so I spent my first summer here being completely depressed.

Crunchy tagged me a while ago and just like her, 10 years ago I was about to be married. When I started university, I never thought that I would be married at 20, I always thought that I would graduate and then head back ‘home to Trinidad’, never did I suspect that I could ever call Canada home.

My last 10 years have been filled with the biggest decisions and responsibilities that I’ve ever had to face, becoming a wife, becoming a mother, becoming an adult. Having experienced all these things here in Canada have contributed to making this country my home, my real home, and maybe it’s because my family is here and home is always with them, but I think it’s more than just that. You see, during my first week at university, I discovered religions I had never heard about before, I learnt that India had more than just one language (yeah, I know!), I found friends from all over the world, it was awesome! Diversity, the likes of which I had never seen before.

Today, I walk out with my headscarf and I, of course, still face racism but I also face the kindness and warmth of a people that truly appreciate people, and I’m always proud to call Canada my home.