We need love, friendship, trust, happiness and all other such good things. While we are busy hoping for the best, we are also preparing for the worst. It hasn’t been easy to find similarities in my friends. There is a saying that indicates: “Birds of a feather flock together.” The kinds of people who are nearby criticizing everything have hate in their hearts, but I love them. I guess that’s how I apply the saying that tells us: “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”.

At home, there are a lot of people who pretend to love me, but they put me through hell-on-earth. Being away from home helps me to forget a lot of things. People say that, “There’s no place like home.” In my own way, I think they mean you can’t run away from your issues. When I’m at home I know that I must expect anything possible. I ask God for help, and my cousin tells me about how God helps those who help themselves. How can I act against my family? What did I do for them to hate me so much? These are the questions that I always ask myself. Ever since Dad died my mother and I have suffered a lot. It doesn’t help that my Mum is unemployed.

We couldn’t fight back. There is a saying that says, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” We were a charity case. All good things come to an end, we couldn’t be that happy family. My mother has been chased away, and they said they would take care of me. They knew that there was no time like the present when they chased her away. It was them and me, with no one to defend me. Familiarity breeds contempt. They got tired of seeing me in less than two months. I thought they enjoyed punishing me, but they ended up setting me free. Indeed, good things come to those who wait. I waited for so long to be free, to be with my mother, to be with Peta’s family.

Honesty is the best policy, and to be honest, I had missed my mom. Those phone calls were not as warm as the feeling of being near her. People say that, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” I can support this statement. I had missed my Mum. I had always wondered why Dad had left us. Mum decided to go to varsity to study a B.Com in Human Resources. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. She was our only hope. Mum never liked the saying “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. She was dedicated; she wanted to build a better future for me. She applied the saying that tells us, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” She also wanted me to be like her. She told me that I would be useless if I didn’t strengthen my study time.

Every cloud has a silver lining. I managed to forgive my father’s family for the things they did to my mother and I. Yes, great minds think alike. That’s why my mother and I got great ideas all the time. Misery loves company. My Mum and I never needed anyone to feel pity for us. We stood strong together. People thought that I was shy because I didn’t talk much. I guess they didn’t know that still waters run deep. Mum said that I reminded her of my Dad. It made me miss him when she said that. It is true that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. One thing that Mum never talked about was Dad’s insurance policies. She cashed them and saved all of the money for me.

A year passed. I was to do Grade 10 and Mum was in her second year at varsity. She ran out of funds to pay her fees, even though her marks were good. I begged her to use the money she saved for me. She promised to pay it back afterwards. I didn’t take it as a loan, because I didn’t see it as mine; it belonged to all of us. Unity is strength, division is weakness. We stood together and supported each other. My cousin used to give me pocket money at school. If relatives help each other, what evil can hurt them?

I woke up and found that it was all just a dream. Life was still complicated in the real world. In reality, Mum and Dad were there to support me to complete my education. But I wasn’t having any luck with relationships. My best friend was dating my girlfriend, and my half-brother was dating my ex-girlfriend. I was having love issues. Damn, who doesn’t have relationship problems in this world? I believed that my parents did too. Every girl had left me for someone close to me.

My cousin seems to be happy with Shantel after those heartbreaking moments with Sharon and Bonolo. He even ended up being in a wheelchair. He is such a charmer. Why can’t I be like him? We are one and the same. No, why does it look like I will complain about this loss for the rest of my life? When my cousin said that recovery is a process, I was the one who was always giving him advice. When he says family, he means it from the heart.

It’s much easier to fall in love than to stay in love. I noticed that no one can love me like my family. To run is not necessarily to arrive. I just have to wait until I find myself someone who really loves me for who I am. Some of my female friends hate to see me with other girls. This means that no girlfriend of mine can be a friend to my female friends. They won’t tolerate each other. I also deserve to be happy. My girlfriend comes first from now on. No more cheating.

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Tell us: Who do you put first, your friends or your partner?