Family Reunion

(the following is poem from my upcoming book "Conversations at my Sister's Dinner Table")

Lost Somewhere

We had the best fights any
Two country girls could ever have
Throwing collard greens and cornbread
Wrestling in the front lawn
Yeah I lied but it was funny
To watch you get in trouble

We smiled after
Thinking about the times we sold mud pies
Climb trees in church dresses
Had to watch TV on our belly for a few days

We laughed hard
When my period came during P.E.
And I told you I was dying
How you managed to fall up stairs
And how that damn cat always sat on top of Tee’s truck

We were pissed together
When my date was an hour late
Drove with the window down
And messed up my hair
When Lillian was on another trip
When we realized nobody gave a shit but us

We went to college
Forgot our tears
Forgot our laughter
Forgot our pain
And grew apart
But now that we’re talking again
Those times really aren’t important

I recently went to a Family Reunion. For years my family could be counted on one hand (okay my niece came so now I use two).
Six. That was the number I could always count on to be there whether I was laughing, crying, or in the words of my sister never acting my age. I mean really if you stop laughing life is just...dull. I was the child in class who could never do a family tree because I had no idea who I came from.
Seventeen. The number of years I was kept from so many pieces of myself. The years of never hearing stories of my grandmother or knowing that my great grandfather had fourteen children!! Years of wondering, is there anyone out there who loves us, remembers us, remembers mama.
Eight. The number of reunions we happen to miss because of some woman who decided that itobviously wasn't important. Nothing she did or does really surprises me. She is just evil or I could branch out and use my expanded vocabulary and say uniquely special.
Two. The number of times I cried when I was there. Happy for the simply fact that I looked over a sea of beautiful black faces in the middle of a banquet and said HI EVERYBODY!! They all said hi back. Wow
Like the poem says, anything prior isn't really that important; the gap has been filled.

I AM A DECEDENT OF JOSEPH HARRISON AND LUNA VENABLE. (my great-grand parents)