my family and a kick in the face

I do not really blog about my bio family here very much. Not sure why. I love them all a whole hell of a lot. They are good people. We differ on some things when it comes to politics and religion. But overall, spending time with them is pretty painless, and most of the time we have good old fun.

I have two nephews and a niece who i adore.

of course, I do not live on top of my family. I'm the outsider--the kid who moved away. See, I grew up two doors down from my dad's mother and just over a mile away from my ma's mother. And today my sister with the kids lives about 7 houses away from my parents and my baby sister lives in the house my mother grew up just over a mile away from my parents'. My cousins were, for the most part, more like my siblings growing up cause barely any of my parents' multitude of brothers and sisters moved away. Over the years the extended family has grown apart, but my immediate family is still tight (that is except for me; I am close to them but not as close as they are to one another).

My sisters and my ma worked at the same salon for years and just recently my sister ez and my ma opened a salon and spa that my other sister also works at. So, they are up in one another's business all day everyday.

I'm the only one who went away to school (post high school). My ma is a manicurist; my sis ez is an facialist; my sis e is a hairdresser and my pop is a roofer. then there's me...a boyish girl activist/community organizer/advocate. oh, and i am a dyke.

why, today, am i sitting here writing about my family? i guess i've been thinking about how my mom really taught me to be a storyteller and a lover of all things beautiful and interesting. And i've been thinking about the stories she tells me about my nephews and niece and how those stories make me giggle and trigger a joyful heart and remind me of why children are such an important part of the human landscape.
In addition to the stories my ma shares about the kids, k and I do get to spend time with them too and we always walk away with a smile on our faces and a little more meaning in our lives.

On halloween, we hung at my ma's and the kids were so funny and full of life. My nephew, j, loves the camera and so we staged some photos and he took the shots. this one is the kick in the face.



a note: we are waiting for k's period to erupt at any moment. neither of us have any confidence that she is pregnant this time around.

I'll keep referring to the joy of the kids who are already here in order to cover the grimness of this struggle.