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sleepactiv
Sleepless in.. - Subscribe
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I cant sleep. Found out that my brother is like me. He cant sleep without the sound of music blaring.. it comes from living with my father for 5 years.. the house was never completely quiet.. all of us had different bedtimes. Even at the unearthly hour of three o'clock in the morning on a working day the television would be on, and someone or other would be on the way out or just coming in. I have the sleeping habit of a house cat, I would fall asleep anywhere, sleeping on a bed was never pre-planned.. it was simply a comfort greeted with pleasure in the morning instead of the limited confines of a couch or an aching face from having fallen asleep facedown on the dinner table. My father encouraged this.. he would initiate family activities at any hour..I remember long night drives with papa, just cruising around kl in silence. We dont have long conversations, my dad and me. The silence is comfortable, I like the fact that my father does not inquire much into my life, he only steps in when there is sickness.. monetary needs.. or occasional stupidity.. Our text messages are as abrupt and efficient as our face-to face conversations. SMS Me: Papa, can you send my allowance tomorrow? Papa: Ok Conversation (in car) Me: Papa, can I move to Nigeria, live off the land and marry Ombukwa the village chief? Papa: Ok Conversation (at home) Me: Papa, can we keep this kitten? Papa: No. We dont have conversations at the dinner table because.. because, well we dont really eat at the dinner table. The table is sort of a surface to put food, and take food from. Sitting there is an alien concept to us. Sometimes we take it straight from the kitchen and then settle in our various favorite eating spots. On the couch with a book, in front of the television.. but there is an unwritten rule that the bedroom is offlimits. I guess it must be for hygienic purposes. I cringe when I have to eat at the table, either when we have to pretend we have decorum in front of guests, or when I am a guest myself. The food just doesnt go down well.. Eating out is a different affair, restaurants just dont cater to our sensibilities, but I dont eat out unless there is someone to eat out with, and in situations of dire need (like extreme hunger) I attend to my meal with a book at hand. Its as if simply eating without having another task accomplished simultaneously is a waste of time. Now that most of us arent living together I find I miss dinner-time. We dont talk to each other, we mostly dont even sit near each other when we eat but there is a feeling of family, the sight of my father reading a newspaper while munching a sandwich in the kitchen, my sister on the floor with a magazine next to her plate of food, ariffs eyes fixated on the television while he munches on.. Its not exactly what Brady Bunch would do.. but you can do things together without being "together". Its just so nice to have a family that understands the distance we all need from each other to love each other. ................................................................. |