ROOTS..

I've been surrounded by alot of family lately, which is somewhat new for me. I grew up with just immediate family since my pops made us modern day nomads since the young age of 3 (Anybody seen my camel?). I never regretted not staying in a town longer than 5 years, cause I was exposed to so many different environments. I also understood that my parents were trying to give my sister and I a better life than they experienced. I wonder what kind of girl would I have turned out to be if we settled down in Shaker Heights, Ohio (somewhat limiting I think). Oh, but the flip side slapped me right upside the head yesterday. Right across town in Northwest DC, nestled on a quiet city block lined with trees and rowhouses, I met more 1st, 2nd, 3rd cousins (from my pops side). You don't realize how much you miss the smell of home cooking until you walk into a kitchen filled with fried chicken, sweet potatoes, cabbage, rice, green beans, corn bread, and "the icing on top".. pink coolaid (yummy). Remember in the Derek Fisher movie, at the end when Derek just got back from seeing the crackhead mama that abandoned him as a baby and he walks back into the house to be greeted by aunties, uncles, and the Queen Mother that looked like she was hanging on by a string? That's how I felt (maybe not that dramatic). Reminds me of Sunday dinners at my house during my childhood. Some cousins sitting at the table recounting old stories of the old days in Fairmont, WV, to the younger cousins sitting in that small room right off the kitchen watching the playoffs, while the elders were on the back porch talking shop. A house full of laughter. I thought to myself. That's how I want my kids to grow up, surrounded by family. Just thinking out loud...