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Monday, April 13, 2009

Eww, why do you have facial hair??????

My brother is 6 years younger than me... he's almost 15.

A couple of years ago after graduating high school I went and attended a girls madrasah in Canada for a few months. After 2 or 3 months we returned home for 6 weeks for our Ramadan break. It was so good to be home.

Awkwardly, I was met by a dude almost as tall as me, if not, taller. There were tiny hairs over his lip. His voice squeaked on and off and when he hugged me I felt a hand the size of a basketball pat my back *shutters* I couldn't believe the changes my brother had gone through in just a couple months! Had I been around, surely I wouldn't have really noticed.

As a teen, I enjoyed teasing my brothers tiny friends. They were probably 8-10 years old at the time. They were so cute and fun to make fun of and annoy.

However, that Ramadan when I came back from Canada I was weirded out to hear some of them with bellowing voices and with loads of facial hair. Facial hair? Whaaat? Ewww, they're just kidsssss why's that stuff on their faces? I had to get those thoughts outta my head... They were no longer little kids I could be around, they were hitting the age of maturity. I started having to hide for cover when I heard them rounding the corner in the hall. I had to get used to wearing niqaab when they came over or just lounge in my room until they left. It was just so awkward to me, I'd never given thought to the fact that one day these kids would grow up and I couldn't really be friends with them anymore.

It's weird watching them grow up over the years. In one way I feel like they're my little brothers too and I still have a special love or care for them, and then I realize that they tower over me and are in high school and I have to refrain from making corky jokes whenever one passes by or calls my parents house haha.

SubhanAllah I was happy, amazed, and highly entertained when the Sunday School at the masjid had a speech competiton and 2 of my brothers friends were the 'MC's. I wanted to laugh cuz in my head I was like 'Okay, they're just kids, why are they running the speech compitition??!' But then they'd speak with such poise and narrate ahadeeth I was like, 'Aww, theyre all grown up! MashaAllah!'

MashaAllah some of these kids are like driving now, they teach classes, have jobs, and some have memorized the entire Quran (mashaAllah, mashaAllah!) and have lost their stank attitude and have become respectful young brothers mashaAllah. I really hope they stay on the right path and can make a difference in our community. It makes me really happy and proud to see them making something of themselves, but sometimes I still wish they were little chitlins I could beat up.

The funny thing is, most of my brothers friends are Bangladeshi, and no disrespect to Desis, but it's like a known fact that Desi boys start getting facial hair at like 5 haha.. so even when they were young kids making fart jokes I'd still feel kinda strange around them cuz some of them really looked like mini men but were just 10 years old lol.

Even my mom feels awkward around them, they're like her sons but she knows she has to wear hijab in front of them when they come over because it's not like she's THAT old.

Does anyone else find this situation funny/odd to cope with?

17 comments:

Faiza said...

omg me too! lolz but my bro and i are twins, so we would all have playdates with our friends and now its so weird when his friends come over cuz i like cant hang with them anymore cuz theyre like 16 now and stuff.. but i feel like i know them so well. we used to play since we were 5 together!! but it really makes it easier for haram to happen then if you dont cut it off, cuz some of my girlfriends who used to hang with us like hint that they wana come over when they know my bros friends are over and think its a brother sister thing when they talk to them but its so obvious theres feelings and stuff. but i really get what ur saying lol, my brother and his friends have like beards almost its nasty in one way but mashallah sunnah halal good for them in a nother way hahahha if im making sense!

Hajar Alwi said...

Mine is actually an alternate situation to yours; in which I used to hang around my older brother and his friends. As I grew older, it just starts to feel weird.

Anonymous said...

Oh yes indeed, it's very strange to see your little brother and friends become men!!!!

Umm Omar said...

Nice post! Yes, I know what you mean. When I accepted a teaching job teaching highschool students once, I thought, no problem. On the first day of class, though, it was like WOAH! These students were MEN, and some towered over me. It was very weird...

Bint Hisham said...

I also teach at an Islamic school, grade 6. Whenever the boy students come back to visit me while in high school it is really strange because they're like my little kids but they're all grown up now! I don't know how to behave around them. Like you mentioned sister, I also proud of their accomplishments while being uncomfortable at the same time, wishing they were small once again.

Suslique said...

Salam aleykum! Yes it is weird and funny at the same time. My little cousin was such a silly kid and such a chicken that i couldnt stop making fun of him. But he changed so fast Subhan Allah! last time the came to our house i couldnt believe my eyes! if i saw him on the street i'd probably not recognized him loool he became smarter too lool now he is one of the best students in university ma sha Allah and this happened so fast Subhan Allah!

American Muslima Writer said...

As I don't have brothers close to me I don't know this feeling... but It's gonna make me sooo do a co-post :) links to you!

Bec said...

My baby brother is 21. I was like... What?... I just changed your diapers. They do grow up so fast. Just think about how weird it will be with your own kids and their friends.

Mughtiya said...

I'm still waiting for my lil bro to mature, my dad will probably let him get his licence so ill have a driver =).

Nihal Khan said...

Bengalis are considered within the desi circle :)

Anonymous said...

Haha, I'm only fifteen myself and it's so weird to see the boys I've known since junior kindergarten turn into, well, men. I've always been really tall, and when I was in elementary school it was a point of pride that I was taller than the boys lol...but now they're towering over me. And they are more mature now, it's surprising that they no longer act like idiots in every situation. So odd.

Anonymous said...

This makes me wonder if my brother feels this way... he used to pull pranks on my best friends and myself when they would come over.. and now he has to leave the house when they come. I never thought about this, and in the reverse either!

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean. Just the other day, my 13 year old cousin came to my mom's house to sleep over and it was only after a few minutes that I realized I should be wearing proper hijab in front of him! I usually just drape my duputta when I go to my mom's house, but since he was there I made sure to cover up. It's so weird because he is my brother's age as well so I just think of him like a 10 year old; just like I think of my brother. It's so funny how these kids just grow up so fast. My brother actually shaved his mustache!! I was teasing him about it, it was funny.

Janny said...

This is a funny post, I've got all this to look forward to because my brothers going to be 11 in july. & its funnier because im bangladeshi and hairy-ness makes me cringe lol, I havent met any 10 year olds with thickening mustaches though.

HF said...

lol u mean "no OFFENCE" to Desis :P

Lazeena Umm Yusuf said...

oh snap haha, thanks habayeb! i edited that... don't want people thinking i'm hating on desis, love ma desi folk ;)

Mona Zenhom said...

I think about this regarding my friends sons...Pretty soon they'll be older, as will mine and we can't take our hijabs off in front of them. It kinda sucks but that's life, boys to men.