Well, just when yall thought that my reunion time was over…we still reuniting. My husband’s paternal grandmother turns 86 today!! Wooo….wooo. Once again, longevity, yall. Grandma Tootsie is sharp, in mind and dress, cooks like everybody’s grandma should, loves hard, disciplines strong. She reminds me so much of my grandmother…they even have the same handwriting. We are so blessed to have her and she is, get ready, a great-great-grandmother! I’m so excited at the thought that I could be sipping soda and eating BBQ with my great-great-grandchildren. I betta run and take my vitamins right now. 

My husband’s brother, who our baby (BBB–remember bighead bigcheek baby) is named after, does an incredible job cooking all day, getting his huge backyard ready for fireworks. We don’t focus much on independence (not sure if freedom from oppression has really been achieved for our families…another blog, yall, another blog) –you won’t see a lot of American flags and red/white/blue (I should have the kids design us a few family flags. That would be live…sorta like the family quilts). We celebrate life on the 4th of July. That’s what WE celebrate–life. Grandma Tootsie told me after I had our oldest daughter that the closest thing to death in life is giving birth. I will never forget that.

See after 14 hours of labor, really only 3 hours of hard labor, I thought I was going to die. At one point, I couldn’t breathe or, better yet, didn’t breathe properly and broke blood vessels in both of my eyes. Have you ever heard of that or have you ever seen that happen to someone? It’s crazy. I looked like my husband didn’t like the baby or something, put me in a headlock and beat me in my face for about 20 minutes. I should have been calling him Ali. But it was not knowing how to breathe that did it. You know I must be looking for punishment because I went back into the close-to-death birthing room 4! more times. Crazy, ain’t it? But I learned how to breathe too.

My younger children still think the fireworks are for Grandma Tootsie. And this will be the only time in a year we get to see the twins who were the flower girls in our wedding. Do you know they are freshmen in college now? Or how about the cousin who looks so much like my father-in-law that the kids still think they’re brothers. Of course, we got to brush up on the Bid Whist skills (if you don’t know, then I would send you to the BidWhist Party Throwdown, but I don’t know if it’s airing anymore. At least at the site you will get some tips). So many people in our generation don’t even play Bid Whist. (If you are a Bid Whist lover like me, then you need to buy some version of Annie Lee’s Six No Uptown picture). Other family picnic activities include horseshoes, frisbees, and a little Detroit hustle lessons (And if you think you know how to hustle, then you should be able to Ballroom/Salsa and Slide. I know folks who have PAID hustle instructors to teach over 20 versions of the hustle to their wedding party. Deee-Troit, yall!).For all of the real Day-Twah homies, check out You know you’re from Detroit when…

One of my favorite parts is when my brother-in-law picks up BBB and calls him “Mini-Me.” So funny because they even dressed alike by accident one day. It’s cool being with family. Yeah, there are downsides, but I’ll talk about those later on in the week when I’m out of the glow. Pass the Pepcid because my non-eating beef and pork self will tear up a T-bone fresh off the grill. Sad, but so true. Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

What are some of your family’s picnic traditions? What food do you have? What games do you play? What makes your family picnic different/special? Let me know if yall can do the Detroit hustle too!

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