GOODNIGHT or GOODBYE

Two

Anyway, father called us out that night, something he never did in his lifetime. We all walked into the sitting room and sat down. I presumed he had probably found my starch of coke somewhere in the house and was about to rain the house down with how someone could possibly be doing such.

When we all sat down to listen to what he had to say, he took a look at my mother and smiled and kept smiling at all my siblings but when he came to me, it seemed like his smile turned upside down and jumbled together. It was not a frown, it was more like a sulky look. Like he pitied me, like he was about to cry. As I looked deeper into his eyes with a confused look, he quickly took his eyes away from me.

Although I had my problems, I was never one to throw it to the face of my family members. Its not like they didn't know, they were fully aware, but the love they showed me was so overwhelming that I could never do anything to hurt them intentionally.

I was the 3rd child of my parents out of 5 children. My mother called me the Bridge of the family. She said since I was the middle child, I was to bridge the gap between my elder ones and my younger ones so no one felt left out in the home.

Mother always did this sort of thing, she always made everyone feel special and important in the home. She gave each of us assignments which were essential to the growth of the family. They were not chores nor tasks that you did and that was it, they were more like missions which would last for our entire lifetime.

My elder brother was the first and he was the Protector, my elder sister was the Giver, I was the Bridge, my younger sister was the Lover and the youngest of us, my brother was the Peace maker.

Mother said all these names represented an attribute of Christ and that if we were to be more like Christ, then we should practice these things in our everyday lives. She also said that in carrying out these duties and responsibilities to one another, it would make the home a better place for all of us.

Mother was right about that. The house was wonderful. It wasn't like we didn't have fights or quarrels, we did. But because we all knew our positions in the home, it made things easier and so when there was a fight, somehow everyone was able to work things out without hurting one another or having grudges against each other.