Family pride

I'm so proud of my family, at least, my mother's part. About a year and a half ago, that part of the family came back together after a quarrel that took more than ten years. That was my first pride. My second pride came when I was back home in Leiden and saw via Skype that the family came together on special festive days like Christmas and New Year's day. All my aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and my grandparents came together and had a drink and a chat. And then, my ultimate pride, came today, when I was part of this family reunion myself for Easter. We came all together at my parents' place: my grandparents, my parents, my sister and brother-in-law, aunts and uncles, cousins, my nieces Indra and Kyana and my grandniece Anaïs, a six-month-old infant and the youngest and cutest member of our family. 

Me and my grandniece Anaïs

About ten or even twelve years ago, when all my borderline problems began, trouble came over our family and some misunderstandings led to quarrels. These quarrels led to a huge family fight which resulted in not speaking to each other and ignoring each other, for over ten years... I felt incredibly guilty, however, I couldn't do anything about it. I was just a borderline case. I was ill, I had a psychiatric illness which affected my health condition badly. I became a different person...

Anyway, in December 2012, my mom had a brilliant plan to buy presents for my grandparents for New Year's Day, my mom and her brothers and sisters together. Everything went well, until New Year's Day came. I won't go into details, but the situation exploded with my mom's youngest brother. Since then, my mom and her oldest brother and two sisters came together and decided to form an alliance and her younger brother now has to figure it out on his own. He has gone too far in his false accusations and stuff like that. Anyway, since then everything's well between the four of them and I can talk freely again with my cousins again. 

Selfie of me and my cousin Andy

FREEDOM, once again! It felt so good to be able to talk to my aunts and uncles again. I had this wish deep inside of me, already for years. I'd been in touch with a couple of them via Facebook, but only when my mother talked to her siblings again could I talk freely to my aunts and uncles again. The stress factor was gone and I was relieved. So were my parents, and - as I have the impression - everyone in the family. 

Selfie of me and my grandma

Today was a beautiful day. I was together with my family, as it used to be when we were 14, back in the good ol' days. I saw my grandniece Anaïs for the first time. I saw the rest of the family after more than 6 months, my grandparents included. It's not always easy to live far away in Leiden, in the Netherlands, but it's what I want. I can't come back to Belgium. I have my own reasons for that. But this means that every visit to my home country can be a surprise: I see my nieces growing up, I see my grandparents, getting older, yes, but still healthy. I can only pray to the Lord that we can have them for a couple of years more among us. 

Four generations of beautiful ladies!