Our family fabric...

Tell me, how awkward would it feel going to a social event, and like most of the time, learning from older folks that you and that girl that you wanted to hit on so badly are cousins, or knowing how connected you're to that kid that you had done bad things to; how about realising that the man you once fought with is in fact your uncle, and the lady you said resembles your mom your aunt?

Myself, and because our society though apparently reserved and remote, are closely connected by at least a common identity or bond, I will interrogate her at some length before I make a move on a girl, especially if her last name's Touray, Ceesay or Sonko, and she's Mandinka or Fanafana, lest I commit incest. But then the Bojangs became cousins, the Jammehs and Njies uncles and aunts, and then I realised that God, my family's descending line is indeed stretchy.

Thanks to the miracle of social media, I have always made such discoveries, and each time I do, I appreciate the diversity of my family fabric, and feel lucky to be of common ancestry and heritage with a whole lot of people, and to have family in different cultures, with different languages and skin colour - yes race, because I have gotten nieces, nephews and cousins of mixed racial descent.

Some of us are in situ. Some of different national experiences, and some even continents away, separated by marriage, career, and migration. Personally, my social life sucks, but l love my family. In fact, I have always wished that if I am moneyed, I'll organise one big family reunion or retreat so that we may know each other and share our very rich experiences. But for now, I'll let the virtual discovery continue.