I made a quick visit to my brother today because I saw an IKEA advert a few weeks ago.

The IKEA advert was about a mother-son duo who went shopping together at IKEA. The son was planning to move into his new home, just around the corner and bought new furniture for the house. Throughout the video, the son is depicted as a child running adult errands. This goes to show that children will always be children in their parent’s eyes no matter how old they are.

My brother is in his early 30s and lives alone, an hour and 40 minutes from where I stay. While he is independent in knowing how to pay his house bills and such, there was something in the IKEA advert that prompted me to pay him a visit.

Moms are said to be the life of a home. When my mom died, a lot of people’s attention was towards my father. They were concerned about how he would fend for himself every day knowing that the daughters live far away tending to their own family, the youngest son also has his own family to look after. Leaving this single brother who unfortunately is not on good terms with my father. They were able to be civil to each other when Mom was still alive. However, once she died all the remaining grace was out of the door.

My brother moved out. My dad was not bothered. In short, they were fending for themselves once Mom was gone. Now that my father is in a relationship with our prospective step-mother, it left me wondering about my brother. If my mom could call from the grave, she’d probably be asking if he is doing well. If he is eating. If he is lonely. Because moms usually take care of those things for their sons when they used to live together. No matter how much they’ve grown.

It also got me thinking, if one day me and my husband are not around, will my kids look after each other as they embrace adulthood with all the responsibilities at hand? I would love to think that they would but it’s something that would slip our minds if we don’t ponder on it enough. If all siblings take care of each other, no one would have to be homeless or end up alone on the streets. I would hate for it to happen to our family.

So for my ‘wellness visit’ to my brother’s house, I decided to bring him some home-cooked meals. It took me just about 2 hours to get everything done. I made him spaghetti bolognese, shepherd’s pie, baked macaroni cheese, rice with potato sambal, fried rice, burgers, grapes, fruit salad and a potato salad. I even bought him a 1-litre carton of Bright Cow milk because I wanted him to try something new. The theme is pretty much Western for now.

He was well, alhamdulilah. The house was clean. Probably because my sister gave him a heads-up. He admitted that he vacuumed and mopped the house just before we arrived. He even put Sponge Bob on the TV for my daughter to watch. Something kid’s friendly, he said. My visit to his home was short. But I am thinking of making this a routine visit every 2 or 3 months. So that he knows that even mom is not here anymore, we siblings are still here for him and care for him just like mom used to.