The Articulation Bureau

ባር-እና-ባስ

Dad what’s the meaning of your name ??
Asked my 8 year old daughter
I said “የመፅናናት ልጅ” with a smirk on my face … the same smirk I saw in my mom and dad’s face when I asked them the meaning of my name.

It was 30 years ago that I asked the meaning of my name, I was coming back from my kindergarten school after being asked by my teacher what the meaning of my name is.

Too casual የሆኑ ቤተሰቦች ነው ያሉኝ። እናቴ የቤት እመቤት አባቴ ጊዜ የሌለው የሂሳብ ሰራተኛ። እቤት ውስጥ ብዙም አይወራም። የመጀመሪያ ልጅ እኔ … ከኔ በታች ደግሞ አራት ሴቶች .. የቤቱ ብቸኛ ወንድ መሆኔ ይሁን የእናት እና አባቴ ጭምትነት እቤት ውስጥ ብዙም ደፍሬ አላወራም። ሴቶቹም እኔን እያዩ አድገው እርስ በእርስ ቢግባቡም ደፍሮ የሚበጠብጥ ግን የለም።

ስለቤተሰቦቼ እስከ 17 አመቴ ድረስ የማውቀው ነገር ከቤት ወደ ስራ ብቻ የሆነ ኑሮ የሚኖረው አባቴ እኛን ከመውለዷም በፊትም የቤት እመቤት የነበረችውን እናቴን እንዴት እንዳገኛት ባላውቅም በሆነ ተአምር ተጋብተው በዝምታ እንደሚኖሩ ነው። እህቶቼ እስኪወለዱ በስሱ ይሳሳቁ ነበር። ቆይቶ ኑሮ ሳቃቸውን አጠፋው መሰል ደበዘዙ። እኔም እነሱን ትቼ ኑሮዬን መኖር ጀመርኩ። በዝምታ … እነሱም እህቶቼ ላይ ማተኮራቸውን ቀጠሉ።

Until …..
until my Godfather came from abroad. I remembered him as a kid when he always comes around and takes me out to have some fun. It’s when he came back that I started to notice the fun in our house stopped shortly after he went abroad. I always thought he would come back sooner as a kid and after years as a grow up he started fading in my memory. 17 years later he came back and that’s when I saw my parents with a smile again …

He was amazed by how I have grown, although he wasn’t here when my sisters were born, he was friendly enough to make them feel like his part of the family within just a week. He brought a bunch of stuff for all of us and my sisters immediately loved him.

After a week he took me out to have some fun … just like he used to when I was a kid. We had lunch and after lunch he took me to a bar. I thought he was testing me when he said let’s go have some drink ……..
“Are u serious?” I asked him with a confused face ……
He said “yeah u are old enough to have some fun” and took me to an old pub and said “this is where your story started” … i was confused. I have never been to a bar before that day and am pretty sure that my parents never been to a bar either.
It didn’t add up to me how on earth my life would possibly started at a bar.

I asked him what he meant and he told me how my parents met casually.. he told it like it’s some kind of story i have heard a million times but wanted to say it for the fun of it …

“Well ur dad and I used to come to this bar everyday, every single day … we had the most fun of our lives at this bar and ur mom used to serve us beers, and some flirty smiles to ur dad of course.
ur dad was too proud to respond to the flirt in front of me, even though I kept telling him that he should shoot his shot with her because she was clearly interested in him.
………
Little did I know that they used to take the same bus back home. Even though he always say he don’t want a woman in his life, I started to notice that he always wait for her shift to be over so he will be able to take the same bus back home with her. Yes it took him a lot of effort to finally admit that he is in love with her but they finally started dating after a year of flirty smile at a bar and looking at each other at a bus. Thats why I used to call them the ባር-እና-ባስ couples” said my Godfather with a smile in his face … That’s when it hit me … I remembered that smirky faces …. The same face my parents had when I asked them the meaning of my name …

ባር-እና-ባስ …. ባር-እና-ባስ

ባርእናባስ …. በርናባስ …

እኔን ብሎ የመፅናናት ልጅ …

“እማዬ በርናባስ ማለት የመፅናናት ልጅ ነው” አለች ልጄ ወደ እናቷ እየሮጠች። my wife passed that same smirky smile to me while kissing our daughter.