the sweet clutter of home

there’s a lot going on here. full house on a late summer saturday. pot of cook-up on the stove. cousins in from as far as Guyana to as close as a few blocks away. sweet reggae music blasting. kids running from front to back while the uncles steal away to the backyard to enjoy a cool Banks beer away from the noise of story-telling aunties and screaming kids.

i notice mom’s hair has grown in a bit. it grows in a weird pattern and we’ve never been sure if it’s caused by the diabetes or the medicines she’s on for her various ailments. in any case, i set up a quick make-shift barber shop in her sitting room off the living room. she yells to my aunt Debbie to keep an eye on the pot while she gets her hair done. she loves being pampered. the truth is the pot will be fine on its own, she’s just showing off that she’s getting her hair done.

i’m not much of a stylist. my grandmother thought i had a patient hand and would encourage me in that direction. i never took it up. so i use the guards in the box with the clippers and a healthy dose of common sense. i manage to make mom look like she actually got a real hair cut. she runs up to take a shower, because she needs any excuse to take a shower on such a hot day.

she comes back downstairs 30 minutes later and resumes center court in all the melee and announces its time to eat. like Jesus and his fish, this one humble pot of mixed meats, black-eyed peas and rice served with salad is enough to fill all the bellies and allows for the noise to continue well into the late evening.

between the people, the furnishings, the food and the noise, this is the beautiful clutter of my mom’s home.