"Do you remember when the family was everything" -John Legend- It don't have to change
Whew... when it comes to my family, I just wonder sometimes. The Bryant's are the only family I know. I never spent much time with my mother's side of the family growing up. In fact, never spent any time with them at all. On the other hand I've grown up separate from my dad's side of the family as well. I was born in Saginaw, MI, which is where my dad's side of the family lives. Eventually when my mom and dad split she moved me and my sister to Indianapolis which is where I spent most of my life. Growing up 300+ miles away has definitely given me a different perspective of life then most of the fam. Not saying my perspective is better or anything, just different. Another consequence of growing up away from my family is the fact that I'm more of an outsider looking in, so I see things that happen in the family more objectively. Lately it seems the rumor mill has been in full effect! It's crazy what's being said, almost offensive. I can only imagine the atmosphere in Saginaw right now. They say there's no such thing as a "functional" family, but I wonder if things get this crazy with other families? I remember the old days. The simple days. The naive days really. Who knows how long rumors about members of my family have been floating around? I remember the days when I was too young to know or understand any of it. Reminiscing like this makes me realize how important of a role my time in Saginaw played in my life. Even though we moved when I was two, I still spent every summer and most winter breaks in Michigan. My dad would always buy me new clothes whenever I came to visit. He would complain that my mom purposefully sent me to him with bad clothes because she knew it would make him buy me new clothes or something. Either way, it didn't matter to me. I had absolutely no appreciation for the types of clothes I wore back then, I just wanted to play. My ambivalence lasted through middle school. I remember my dad bought me a green and yellow FUBU jersey which happened to be my school colors. I never really wore jerseys and that one was huge, so I just threw it on top of my pads and used it as a practice jersey... Yeah, he wasn't happy when he found out about that. Anyway, I remember summers in Michigan being filled with being dragged to Unity Chorale rehearsals and going to Bethlehem church every Sunday. At least until everybody switched to Galilee. You could always find the Bryant's in the choir stand, on the organ, or on the drums though, where ever we went. Church was the cornerstone of the family foundation. Even when we weren't at church we were watching Bobby Jones gospel or just had gospel music playing in the background. As a kid my biggest concerns were where we were eating after church and when we played, who would be the green power ranger. I still remember my first fight. It was with my cousin and he definitely won. It's not so easy doing karate when it isn't choreographed and you have no clue what you're doing. You couldn't tell me I lost though. I marched into my grandmothers house sat down on the couch and told her that I kicked my cousin's ass. (Yup, I even cussed back then) She preceded to show me what a real ass kicking was with a belt to my butt. I seemed to have blocked that memory out, but I'm constantly reminded of it by my cousins. Oh the memories, good times, and nowadays things aren't necessarily bad, just very very different.
"We act like everything's fine, and if it isn't, we ain't letting everybody in our family business"
-Kanye West "Family Business"
No comments:
Post a Comment