WINE CHIC(K)
TEXT
ANNABEL ONYANGO
TURN UP
TURNAROUND
Do we grow up to be what our mothers are like today or what they
were like when we were kids? In the case of Annabel Onyango, her
wine loving mother of yesteryear is definitely the role model to
aim for.
G
rowing up, my mother
was the party queen. It
was the 80’s and she
was a hot young mom
with perfect hair, nails,
and clothes and four hectic kids. My
sister Janet and I are both April babies and every year without fail she
would devise a combined blow-out
bash. The festivities would typically
start on a Saturday around 2pm, with
parents dropping their little kiddies
off at the house for an afternoon of
bouncing castles, Orangina and cake.
In new birthday frocks we would run
around the garden with our friends,
eventually passing out when the
sugar-high subsided. Then as the sun
went down, parents would return,
not to collect their respective chil-
dren, but rather settle down to the
stash of booze and grilled meat my
parents would then unleash on them.
That’s when the party would begin in
earnest.
Growing up, my mother didn’t
mind a glass of wine or three at
dinner. We lived in francophone
Cote d’Ivoire so it would invariably
be French wine. At a restaurant she
would always initially decline a drink
at the beginning, then sip my dad’s
until he would exasp