They gonna bug us, we save the lives of the young among us

Where I'm from we don't be talking loud, that's cause we walking proud
More black rain falling from the clouds soon as I saw the crowd
- Hi-Tek & Talib Kweli, "Time Is Now"

trying to make the most of a slight cough and hunger anxiety. the food rations are piling up and it's almost time to let the beast out of the bag.

And your boy still got that hunger, you gotta love us

the fam always remarks how big the midget gets every reappearance. so this time, i had to warn them to not curse him. you see, my pops is a big dude. as in some size fifteens, know-what-I-mean? and all throughout my childhood, i kept hearing that i had some check-up as a kid and the doctor said i was going to grow up to be at least 6'4".

yeah. um. that shT didn't happen. so now, i get wary of trying to predict stuff. i'd rather let the chips fall where they may and let life run its course. You could have no history of high blood pressure in your family, yet take an L to the heart in the blink of an eye. We live and we learn and family always comes first.

So on this Thanksgiving...

I'll say a prayer for my cousin's father-in-law and hope for a speedy recovery so they can have a good time in the Boogie Down. And I won't hold it against her that she fell asleep on me and left me hanging.

I'll pray that Onion is well and out of trouble and hopefully will eventually leave those QU park benches to get out of the cycle he's been living for the last decade.

I'll relish in spending time with my many grandmothers and cherish another year we are fourtunate to have the youngest elderly women ever still shopping and hopping all over the place having just as much fun as ever.

I'll hug tighter and longer than in years past because home is where the heart is and chicken wings are good for the soul.

I'll laugh heartily and joke mightily to escape from overhanging anxieties and relax at ease in the warmth of love and good cheer.

I'll sit back with a smile and watch as the little bit of sweat I put in the last few years finally comes to life because someone called a meeting and heads are rumored to show up.

I'll remember that this holiday cannot pass without an acknowledgement of the immigrant imperialism (before it was either) for which lives were lost and land was taken.

I'll visit the old neighborhoods, pour a little juice out to celebrate the lives of those not here, and go back in time - albeit briefly - to a place where it was all so simple and yet just as complicated as well.

I'll catch up with old friends and reflect on the time that has passed and the milestones that need to be shared.

I'll break bread with cousins and catch up on life's quirks and the meandering paths we've taken to get where we are; while collectively dreaming big for what lay ahead.