Mbokk
is the word for family in Wolof, according to Mouse, who has probably picked up a good bit of that language in the last five days. I sure don’t know how to pronounce it. I bet Mouse can. (And Mouse, I hope you don’t mind me using that word. I feel as if, not having ever been in Senegal, I don’t really have the right to use it. But I like the word.)
We’re at the Houghton Lake Group Home:
I can’t believe that I haven’t been at the Houghton Lake Group Home since the middle of June. I have cruised by it on the I75 SUV Speedway about a brazillion times flying my dirty Honda betwixt and between The Planet Ann Arbor and Fin Family Moominbeach. But I haven’t stopped here. I don’t think I’ve gone three months without a weekend at Houghton Lake since I met the Grumpy Growler. I know I’ve missed some good times here this summer.
So we’re here now but what’s missing is mbokk. In this case, I mean my out-laws, specifically my Courtois out-laws. The relationship I have with my *one* Fin Family Moomin-out-law has transcended that of sisters-in-law ever since old Peeves decided to check out. I know a lot of people grumble and kvetch about their out-laws. My out-laws are fantastic. Cheerful and high-energy and always a lot of fun. And I have a lot of out-laws. The GG has four sisters and five brothers (four living) including his doppelganger, aka The Uncliest Uncle. Lots of wonderful spouses and kids and dogs and the whole works. This place rocks when there are a few families up here for a weekend. Boating or skiing or construction projects or craft crap fairs or shopping for dog Halloween costumes at Walmart. Hey wait! Is it five o’clock yet? It’s five o’clock somewhere!
I have a lot of relatives, kids and octowomen, aunts and uncles and cousins of every degree. Galore. I love to spend time with them all. But there’s something a little different about spending time with relatives who don’t have a clue about who you were or what you were like before you were about 25. I can leave a lot of old baggage behind and be myself the way I am now. Nobody brings up any of the old memories of things I’ve pretty successfully blocked because nobody knows about them. And you guys, I don’t know if you realize it but you kept me going the spring after my dad and brother were dead and I didn’t realize until later that I was getting up and walking in the morning mainly because I am *programmed* to get up and walk in the morning. I *needed* to be here with people who were talking and laughing and having a good time. It rubbed off on me and pulled me out of my fog. The day we watched little Jim’s team win the national robot competition on the internet is etched in my memory forever. I was in desperate need of the company and camaraderie of that weekend. From the bottom of my heart, thanks!
Anyway, we’ll have a great weekend up here. I’m good at self-entertainment. I have a lot of schoolwork and a ton of coding for one of my internships and a couple of unfinished prodjects. And my flute. And five o’clock happens. But I love you all and I miss you. I know I missed some good times this summer. Mbokk.