Christmas Strangers We Love

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Home for the holidays. It depends on how we view ‘home.’ Some people say they are going to their parents’ house, because ‘home’ is where they live, in their own apartments or houses.

For others, home is where they grew up, where parents are. Even phone companies run ads about calling ‘home,’ which could be in the same country, Europe, Haiti, India, Africa, Caribbean, Ireland, anywhere.

Parents however, look forward to the holiday season with trepidation. We might come back as strangers, kids they brought into this world but wandered too much into that world, thus dwarfing parents’ world. Strangers that come home for Christmas speak a different language. It sounds like parents’ language but it isn’t. It’s another English.

Parents worry about strangers that come home because they might hurt themselves. Eyes seem to be static like mountains, mouths look like a water tap someone forget to close. Parents blame themselves because they saw the signs but did not do anything. Maybe they did but were dismissed with the usual road block: It’s my life.

But what parents find most painful, is that split second when they catch us looking at them, as a liability.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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