This is a chapter from my third book called Love letters
My family is my immediate family and my relatives. I love all my family even if we hardly communicate, which is mostly my doing. I am an introvert and loner and I stay mostly to myself and I do not take the initiative to connect and turn down invitations to socialize.
I have French, Portuguese and Indian ancestry. My last name is French and there are not many people with that last name. My mother's side is Muslim and I am happy that God chose me to be Muslim too. I wrote chapters for my mom and my sister but not my father. I just do not have that many words for my father. He tried in the best way he could. We are all products of circumstances.
My grandmother on my mother's side would call me Boyo from Boyo and Carla and because my last name rhymes with Boyo. She loved to watch Carnival on TV and she had a Christmas tree and she was Muslim. She was as cosmopolitan as many trinis are. She used to tease my mom about how much she was attached to me. There are two other persons among my relatives who also have the name Hassan.
My grandfather on my father's side gifted me this gigantic sized black faux leather bag with a thousand compartments when I started secondary school. I think this must have been a travel bag for an adult backpacker. In no way this made sense for a child my age. That was funny. Sometimes it is good to remember the humorous moments in life. If we do not laugh, we will cry, as the old people would say.
My uncles and aunts are respectable people and role models and I love that. My cousins are making their parents proud and extending the family tree and creating the next generation. I do not know if any of my family reads my blog posts and is reading this but please feel free to send me a message.
I like this unknown quote that I found, "Relatives are the people who love you unconditionally, who accept you for who you are, and who will always be there for you, no matter what." That is how I want to think of my relatives. That is the love I would like to create. I love that this book has happened that allows me to make my heart more open and explore my feelings of love in a productive way. Sometimes you never really feel until you put it in writing.
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