Aunty Belinda had been my number one lady ever since I was a young girl.
- When mom got a job choice outside the country, aunty Belinda agreed to raise me as her own.
We ended up bonding so much that I called her mom too, then my cousins and I were more like siblings than relatives since we even looked alike, then after school, I got into a great college and then went on to get my master’s degree where my mom was located. I promised her I’d go there since we’d not truly spent much time together growing up. Aunty Belinda always called or texted, or video called to talk and let me know how everything was going, she was my support when things got difficult at school. One afternoon, she called me in the night based on the time difference to vent. Apparently, they were staying without proper a/c for some time! There had been a terrible storm brewing before she left for work at the hospital. Aunty Belinda particularly instructed my cousins not to turn on the a/c until the storm passed. But, they didn’t heed her warning, and the a/c shut down when the storm hit. It went as far as damaging the circuit breaker, and they had no electricity. All the electricians and AC experts had other emergency bookings and would only mend the AC plan after two afternoons. I saw how annoyed my aunt was and tried cracking some jokes to try and lighten her mood. It worked, and we made the decision to go on to talk about getting a more efficient heating and cooling plan later on.