#My grandparents

[earthgoddessmusings]

This is a clip of a river baptism in the St. Joseph community located in Franklin, Louisiana (St. Mary Parish). The man who captured this video is a family member of the preacher.

My grandfather is the man in the blue tinted shirt who assists with the baptism. He served as a decon at the church in this small community. My grandmother is the woman in all white with glasses (white feathered hat) who walks behind Mama Jackson as they help her to her car. This clip makes me emotional. My grandfather died when I was 8 years old, but I remember how much he loved me. He called me his little lump of sugar. My father has his face, and I look like my father. I spent a lot of time with my grandma in the years she became ill before her death in 2018 and I learned so much about myself from bearing witness to her light.

These are scenes from everyday black life that we take for granted because we live it. When I stand back and watch black people just being I'm in awe of how beautiful we are. I love how everyone lays hands on each other, the muted sense of joy, the smiles and hugs. When I say my people, this is who I speak of. I love that I'm a product of these people. Most of the elders in this video have transitioned, while the children in the background have become elders and most have moved away from this small community.

I hope that when you look at the ancestors that stand behind you, you find beauty in who you're from, where you're from; and that it heals you and gives you a sense of pride.

[reblogs are off because I don't own this video. I'm so happy that Mr. Wiggins captured this moment so that years later I could see my grandparents in their younger days (long before I was thought of). It makes me want to record more moments for my future kin to discover]

[printabledesignrf]

Love always triumphs, wins over time and age ……long live grandparents 💖

[sparklepony]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[my grandparents :: from my files]

* * * * *

"let us stay home together my love and not know as the rain does not know where it came from and the sea that is all around us does not know its beginning"

From "In the Meantime" by W.S. Merwin, from his book Garden Time (Copper Canyon Press, 2016) [The Merwin Conservancy]

[kojiarakiartworks]

December 1962 to January 1963

New Year's Eve to New Year's Day

JAPAN KAGOSHIMA IBUSUKI IKEDA

© KOJI ARAKI Art Works

Daily life and every small thing is the gate to the universe ：）

[aiiaiiiyo]

[disabilitymissunderstood]

[bezesta]

Dadabe Jean Louis sy Bebe Jackie

[dannyneeds2go]

EEEEEEEEEEEAAAAKEJDHDHEHWH

[fieriframes]

[THE STREET WAS FULL OF PEOPLE WAITING FOR THIS STRANGE CAR TO COME TO KENOSHA. AND CHECK AND HEADED FOR THE DOOR, THIS PLACE HAS BECOME A LOCAL LANDMARK. IT'S KIND OF A FAMILY TRADITION. MY GRANDPARENTS USED TO HANG OUT HERE, MY PARENTS HANG OUT HERE, AND NOW I HANG OUT HERE.]

[just-ur-local-peach]

the worst part about not having someone in your life anymore is never getting to hear their laugh again

[gyroshrike]

Elderly dementia, suicidal ideation (not for me), negative venting.

(Please don't respond to this with advice or "it'll be okay," type messages. I just need to get feelings off my chest.)

It's so hard listening to my grandmother talk on and on and be so convinced that my mom was hitting her, punching her, beating her, but will not believe me when I tell her that didn't happen. She talks about wanting to leave, move out, but then no one can get her out of the house, even when other family members come to pick her up. She talks over and over about wanting to die, to jump off a bridge and drown in the river and have it take her away. She has depression, but refuses to take her meds. She makes herself food but rarely eats it. She feeds the dogs human food until they get sick. She threatens to attack one of my sisters every time she comes to the house. She tries sometimes.

I don't have the spoons to help her. I don't have the energy to sit next to her every meal and make sure she eats and doesn't give it to the dogs. I don't have the energy to go through the song and dance every night of getting her to take her antidepressants. She won't even take her allergy meds without a fuss and often hides it. Trying to sit and talk with her always devolves into her talking about how much she hates this person or that person. I don't have it in me. I'm not strong enough.

She told my mom she never loved her.

She refuses to shower or brush her teeth sometimes, but she's so stubborn and proud you can never tell her what to do, only suggest and hope she's in a mood to be swayed that day. She'd never let someone do it for her.

She has nothing. She repeatedly destroys her sewing machine so she can't make the clothes she so desperately wants to. She takes apart her phone so her old friends can't call her number. She sits out on the porch and cooks and watches tv. Her little brain needs stimulation, but she destroys her access to it in paranoia and I'm not strong enough to hold her hand through it all to make sure she gets it. I can't even speak Spanish to her, which I feel would be so good for her because I think her English processing is slowly slipping away.

I'm so tired despite spending so much time hiding from her when she needs so much help. I don't have it. I give what I can. I handle her best out of anyone in the house. I'm one if the few she hasn't lost faith in. But I'm barely learning to keep myself afloat as a person, I can't carry her too.

[noegrets]

Here's the full image of the shrinking ranges:

Maybe this is the wrong platform to pose this question given the average tumblr user but

Is it just me or did our generation (those of is who are currently 20-30 ish) just not get the opportunity to be young in the 'standard' sense?

Like, everyone I talk to who's over 40 has all their wild stories about their teens and 20s, being young and dumb, and then I talk to my friends and coworkers and classmates, and we just... dont.

[ahotknife]

the thing is that childhood doesn't just end when you turn 18 or when you turn 21. it's going to end dozens of times over. your childhood pet will die. actors you loved in movies you watched as a kid will die. your grandparents will die, and then your parents will die. it's going to end dozens and dozens of times and all you can do is let it. all you can do is stand in the middle of the grocery store and stare at freezers full of microwave pizza because you've suddenly been seized by the memory of what it felt like to have a pizza party on the last day of school before summer break. which is another ending in and of itself

[kojiarakiartworks]

December 1962 JAPAN KAGOSHIMA IBUSUKI IKEDA

© KOJI ARAKI Art Works

Daily life and every small thing is the gate to the universe ：）

[aiiaiiiyo]