Chronicle of an ageing queen

It was my birthday on Saturday, my Mother sang one line and said when you get older you don't want to hear the whole birthday song. 

My older sister Noncedo Khewu is turning...!!!!  Well lets not say the real age but play with words that will let you guess how old she is*don't want to be killed by her*.  If you are in your twenties its not the age that gives you sleepless nights because you still worried about turning 30, but if you are a women its the benchmark of your accomplishments, and words like menopause become a reality and not just a word you heard on Oprah anymore.

My sister was the first person to graduate in my immediate family.  My late grandfather's smiling face popped into my mind when I said this, he was so proud.  Certain memories not even time can erase.  When she was studying in Bloemfontein, Vista University, she used to say my Mum should let us*Ncedisa and I* come visit her and we would stay with her over the holidays instead of her coming home.  She would sacrifice her holidays for us to leave that "dorpie" called Aliwal North.  There was a boy who broke my heart a couple of years back.  My sister offered to go run him over with her car, dissed him for days, and said his ugly and his eyes looked like they were boiled anyways, so its his loss.  Needless to say I never a believed a word of that, but I felt better afterwards, I still think the "boiled eyes" were so sexy, LOL.  I was introduced to what I call 'REAL music" by her, her play list was fierce, singers such as Tracy Chapman, Bob Marley, Letta Mbulu and Lucky Dube were offering from her to me.  She read books that emancipated us, and made us realize there is a huge world out there.  When I told her I wanted to quit my job and move to Cape Town, she said and I quote: "fly lil bird, even the sky will not be your limit".  There are absolutely no words that could ever describe the woman she is.  She made me an Aunt at age 12*the best gift ever*, she is getting her PhD next week, she will probably be the only "doctor" at home, because I have no intentions of studying any further than this.  She was the first to go  overseas as well.  My mother once said, Noncedo is the only person she knows who does not have the word fear in her vocabulary.

That being said nobody wants to get old especially if you are a women.  Birthdays are life's cruel reminders that one is not getting any younger.  Of course am going to tease her the whole day today*that is my duty as the evil little sister*, about how she is going to SAG soon, because we all know 'BLACK DON'T CRACK'.  When I called her she was quite excited about the attention she is getting today.  I can only hope she knows what a good job she has done so far.  It cannot be easy being an older sister.  They say one lives under the shadow of their older sister, mine always let us share her sun.  So this is a toast to my sis, the ageing but REIGNING QUEEN.