immediate family
Blood makes you related, loyalty makes you family.
Lessons from my Parents
It is easy to dote on one’s parents. It is in our nature to adore the people who raised us, especially when they have been blameless as parents. I am no exception to that rule. They have shown me how in spite of the setbacks that life has in store for me, I can still do great things.
By Neville Kitala6 years ago in Families
Leah's Grace
To Grace and Shiloh, That watch that your mother says she “bought” for your father isn’t a watch she bought at all. Me and Bootsie boosted it from the Chicago Bulls locker rooms, several weeks before your mother let us all know she was pregnant with ya’ll. Even now, we don’t know what belonged to whom. Bootsie just went in, unzipped those duffel bags and took whatever looked valuable. Chains, blazers, designer shirts, sneakers, backpacks, rings. We’d already made international headlines. Just about nobody had gone untouched. Our first hit was Boston TD Garden, then we made our way downward to the Nets, Philly Cavaliers, then down to the Charlotte Hornets, Atlanta Hawks then Orlando Magic. And we just kept moving up and down in a zig zag. We came real close to losing it all when we hit the LA Clippers. It was me, Bootsie and Solo that go-round. Each time we stuck a team, only one of us went in to boost. The other two would watch the surroundings of the locker rooms. You might be thinking we pretended we were the housekeeping crew. Nope. We always staked a stadium out for, at least, one month before gameday. Planting our cameras in places we could snatch them up from when we got through. Remember that man I told you about who took me to senior prom? Taz? He went to school for computer engineering. That was the genius behind all our equipment. I lied about the purpose and told him I didn’t feel safe at my apartment in those suburbs because it was so spread out. So he hooked me up with his custom security system that he and his friends were getting trademarked. He assured me that I’d be safe if I just married him. We still talk, and I eventually told him what really went down. He says that’s the past; he still wants to marry me. But marriage and kids aren’t and ain’t never been for me. Though I’m not lying when I say that the two of you and your cousin are three of the greatest joys of my life. Thank you for sending me the picture; I’m amazed at how beautiful ya’ll have grown to be. How’s school going? What ya’ll been up to?
By Davontae Jones6 years ago in Families
The One Where Monique Feels "The Fear"
It’s time for me to strike out on my own. This time will be different though because I won’t be able to come back. It’s so strange that this place that was only ever supposed to be a temporary pit stop has become the most constant thing in my life.
By Monique Molnar6 years ago in Families
Little Black Book
Chewing Gum. $.15 Bandaids $1.49 Toothpicks .45 The neat columns fill page after page in the black notebook. His handwriting was strong, even flamboyant, but disciplined and meticulous at the same time. Like him. A raconteur, a bon vivant who enjoyed a glass of beer, would throw back his head and laugh with friends, but also a competitive athlete, a man who methodically performed his physical exercises every morning and read every book twice through in case he had missed something the first time. There are dozens of notebooks in this cabinet, because my father wrote down every penny he spent. He gave my mother the same gift every birthday and Valentine's Day. He filled the three family cars with gas every Saturday.
By Joan Anderson6 years ago in Families
The Leap
I was making breakfast when there was a knock at my door. My boyfriend, Travis jogged to get it as I took the steaks out of the cast iron skillet. While I waited for him to return, I fixed our plates and listened out for anything interesting. I didn’t hear a word; not a casual greeting or the surprised reaction of my mother finding Travis in my apartment.
By Maya Bibby6 years ago in Families
Nine of Cups
Vikki Coffey is thirteen years old. She will be fourteen on August 12, 1995. Her siblings are all showered and in bed. All school uniforms for tomorrow are ironed and ready to go. Lunches are packed in brown paper bags complete with crust-less prosciutto cotto and sliced artichoke sandwiches. She can go to sleep now. It’s 9:45 pm. Today’s her favorite day of the week: Sunday! Every Sunday she takes all her siblings with her to a gathering at her school. It is a peaceful routine compared to the chaotic and unstable household she lives in. Vikki takes them to the park behind the school afterwards too. She attends a non-denominational school in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. At the weekly gatherings they learn about manifesting, affirmations, astrology, chakras, growing your own food, grounding techniques, herbs, and how to meditate. Learning these tools for life gives her strength and hope. She sits on her bed to meditate. She opens her well-worn journal. Vikki reads a passage out loud that she learned at school: “Whatever you visualize during meditation, believe that you have already received it, and it will be yours.” Vikki starts to purposefully write out her manifestation statements just like they do in homeroom every morning. After meditating, she writes a new affirmation: “Thank you love energy for this, for me, that you financially provide a way for my mother, siblings, and I to all live together without our father in a new home in the best way for me and all involved or something better and thank you love energy for this, for me.” She meditates carefully visualizing her affirmation and opens her eyes to write about her day in her journal:
By Nikki Torres6 years ago in Families
