Nostalgia

Nostalgia - 5 Regent Street

I have a big family full of many different characters all of whom I love dearly. My family is so big that growing up, I didn't really need friends, I had many cousins around my own age group and every weekend many of us would all be at grandma and granddad's house. On Saturdays we would go to Saturday school to learn about Jamaican/African history, on Sundays we would all go to church and the time in between we were nothing less than mischievous, some more than others. 

My grandma could cook and bake like no other person I have come across since and my granddad, although sick after having had a high number of strokes, was very funny and loving.  I won't lie there are things that weren't great about it, arguments, fights, beatings, the odd bit of bullying and Gran could moan and cuss with the best of them but how she put up with us all is beyond me.

We played games such as "duppy in the dark" (hide and seek at night with all the lights off), sliding down the stairs or seeing how many steps we could jump from (wearing out the carpet and making the banister come away from the wall in the process); planning midnight feasts and going downstairs one by one to get biscuits trying not to make the packet rattle (as gran always fell asleep in front of the tv or reading her bible) and if she woke up we would be in for it but we would still find a way to make it happen. We'd put the food in a bag, and hoist it through a window using tied together belts from our dressing gowns. We'd get things from around the house and have sales at the front gate so we could buy iced buns from the bakery down the street and every so often we'd get beaten by grandma for something or other.

We would ramp and play anywhere in the house accept the cellar because we thought it was haunted by an old family dog (I remember crying because I had to sit in the chair closest to the cellar door lol but I cried often, I was the mardy one of the bunch); and the front room which we called "the new front room" because everything in there was pristine and was only for visitors. The sofas were covered, the crystal cups and fine china were in there and it was out of bounds most of the time.

My aunts, uncles and older cousins would come, sit, eat, talk, laugh and tease us. I could talk to my aunts (especially aunt Steph RIP) about anything I needed to and get good advice, my uncles would sit and talk with us, sing with us, take us out, bring us things, etc. There was hugs, laughs, crying, fights, all sorts going on and at times I hated it but looking back...there was a lot of familial togetherness and love, and a big part of what made me who i am today. Things were dealt with maybe not in the best ways but always as a unit because there was a base, a foundation, somewhere that any family member could go, eat, sleep, talk, feel safe.

When my granddad passed it all seemed to fade a little and my gran passed on the same date 7 years later it had totally changed. The family house was sold and there was no longer one place where we all got together on a regular basis as they were the reason. I no longer see ALL my aunts uncles cousins in one place on a regular basis, we have the odd family day which is blessed but they are not often and not everyone comes. I sometimes feel sorry for my younger cousins, as many of them will never experience and know what we did but i am glad to see many of them are still each others best friends in a similar way that we were.

I love my family dearly every last nutty one of them and value them for who they are individually. I hope one day i can be the head of my very own 5 Regent Street.

Big up the cousin's that were part of that time... especially Carmella, Janine, Simeon, Joseph, Kirsty, Nathan, Kirby, Josh, Tahir, Naomi, Rebecca, Jordan, Joel, Mikael, Roxy, Kennedy, Natasha, Michelle and all the older and younger ones too xxx

RIP Grandma Graham, Granddad Graham, Aunty Steph.