Taking this moment to rep my grandmother looking bo$$. Also my wee papa in the black tux looking so gorgeous.

Sickly prickly beard hiding in the back room of your uncle’s home. Looking old and feeling good about the way your face holds the years. Hit the Midwest and your hair turned red.

Great grandma Johnson.

Hello old friend.

Before the unspoken conversation about my cousin dating a black man and after the claim by a grotesque step-uncle I was overqualified to teach at a urban community college ergo wasting my time, in the middle of whisky or red wine I took this picture of a perfect family table set up for an imperfect family, a family I claim as my own and wholly reject in the same breath. Here’s to being better and learning from your past—an empty dining room perfectly flawed for one impossible moment.