♫ Baa Baa Black Sheep (plural) of the family ♫

You either are one or know of one. In my family, my Faj, Maj, Sis and I, we're the black sheep.

My dad comes from a family with 3 siblings so I have six cousins. Thing is, the total amount of time I 've actually ever spent with them must be less then two months in (almost) 24 whole years. Meagre to say the least.

Now, with the passing of my Ouma, all the family admin comes to light. You see, my oum's, God Rest her Soul, wasn't the grandmother you spent nights over at. She wasn't the type to hand over the sweeties and tell you to hide it from the parentals. She never babysat me. We'd never ever eaten a meal in her home - let alone consume something she'd made.

Every year she'd phone me on my birthday, normally around sparrowsfart, to wish me and would say: "Sorry Hayley, but your present went down with the Titanic you know" and let of an eerie laugh.

We never really got the chance to get close to her and since my mom's an only child the only cousins I've ever known are my mom's closest friends' children.

So yesterday my Dad, his brother and sisters were dealing with all the formalities of having to put a loved one to rest. My dad comes home and shows my mom the programme. My mom, slightly taken aback by what she sees, takes it all in and decides to keep quiet until she has the chance to chat to my sister and I.

I get home and first thing she says to me is: " I don't want to stir Hails, but do you know whats planned for Friday?" I reply that I hadn't seen Dad yet and would discuss it with him when he got home. She goes on to tell me that my sister and I were completely excluded from the scheduled events.

Bugger.
I knew we were never the flavour of the week, and that we, certainly, would not be asked to do a eulogy but not even a "Prayer read by: K and H" or "John 4 Verse 12-15 read by: K & H"? Come on!

Pretty flipping sucky if you ask me.
So what does K do? She confronts the Faj (who happened to be at her house to visit the brood) and give her a piece of her mind.

The result: My sister and I will be reading some sort of verse, which is not on the programme.
Go Figure.