Back Like Vertebrae
Wow, the summer got busy and I’ve been struggling to find time lately but here we go again. I hope everyone is well and I’m looking forward to catching up once again.
Since last I posted, I believe I went to Monique’s family reunion in Virginia (D.C. area) and that was a great time. I’ve spent time with her family on a few occasions now but the family reunion is different and even Monique gets a little anxious because they’re seeing family they haven’t seen in ages and sometimes have had drama with. But everything was great. A formal catered dinner and dance at a rented social club of some sort Friday night to kick things off (this is back in July). Monique, being a professional dancer, choreographer and university dance professor, judged a family dance-off and that was a blast to watch. Saturday was a family picnic in a park. I played volleyball with a few of them and it was excellent despite the 100-degree temperature. Then Sunday was service at a small black baptist church where Monique’s mom is a preacher and her dad is a deacon. I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but I did not expect to have such a good time there. Some of you have probably seen soulful black churches on TV or in movies, like in The Blues Brothers for instance. Well, turns out it really is like that. The first half of the service was an upbeat, incredibly soulful, and even rocking gospel concert for all intents and purposes. I didn’t feel out of place or unwelcome at all despite being the only white person and having never been religious. The reunion wrapped up with another cookout after church, but at Monique’s parents’ place this time, featuring the plentiful leftovers from the picnic. We hung around another day to have time with her immediate family without all the commotion and it was lovely. Haha and then we had my much smaller family reunion here in town a couple weeks later. Nothing much to report there other than my mom behaving herself - she tries too hard to relate with Monique and way-too-often falls on topics of race and politics in an attempt to do so. Sigh.
In other non-news, I still struggle with prioritizing as well. You know, thinking you’d like to do important things while spending the little free time you do get surfing YouTube, Netflix, or whatever. The usual.
Just watched The Good Guys with Monique with Monique. Fun movie. Some friends had been quoting it for a long time and I’ve been wanting to see it for a while. Been watching all kinds of great bad movies as well of course, about one every two weeks with the gang. I’ll share some of those eventually but not now. It’s late and I’m tired ‘cause it’s been a long week at work and I need to catch up on sleep. Thank God I get to sleep in tomorrow. I’ll stop here and leave you with a song. ‘Night.
Since last I posted, I believe I went to Monique’s family reunion in Virginia (D.C. area) and that was a great time. I’ve spent time with her family on a few occasions now but the family reunion is different and even Monique gets a little anxious because they’re seeing family they haven’t seen in ages and sometimes have had drama with. But everything was great. A formal catered dinner and dance at a rented social club of some sort Friday night to kick things off (this is back in July). Monique, being a professional dancer, choreographer and university dance professor, judged a family dance-off and that was a blast to watch. Saturday was a family picnic in a park. I played volleyball with a few of them and it was excellent despite the 100-degree temperature. Then Sunday was service at a small black baptist church where Monique’s mom is a preacher and her dad is a deacon. I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but I did not expect to have such a good time there. Some of you have probably seen soulful black churches on TV or in movies, like in The Blues Brothers for instance. Well, turns out it really is like that. The first half of the service was an upbeat, incredibly soulful, and even rocking gospel concert for all intents and purposes. I didn’t feel out of place or unwelcome at all despite being the only white person and having never been religious. The reunion wrapped up with another cookout after church, but at Monique’s parents’ place this time, featuring the plentiful leftovers from the picnic. We hung around another day to have time with her immediate family without all the commotion and it was lovely. Haha and then we had my much smaller family reunion here in town a couple weeks later. Nothing much to report there other than my mom behaving herself - she tries too hard to relate with Monique and way-too-often falls on topics of race and politics in an attempt to do so. Sigh.
In other non-news, I still struggle with prioritizing as well. You know, thinking you’d like to do important things while spending the little free time you do get surfing YouTube, Netflix, or whatever. The usual.
Just watched The Good Guys with Monique with Monique. Fun movie. Some friends had been quoting it for a long time and I’ve been wanting to see it for a while. Been watching all kinds of great bad movies as well of course, about one every two weeks with the gang. I’ll share some of those eventually but not now. It’s late and I’m tired ‘cause it’s been a long week at work and I need to catch up on sleep. Thank God I get to sleep in tomorrow. I’ll stop here and leave you with a song. ‘Night.
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