Team Gray!

Daddy: Did you hear Mayor X’s campaign speech?

Me: No

Daddy: Poor man, he must have graduated from the Amos ‘n’ Andy school of elocution.

Me: I never saw heard that show.

Daddy: You ain’t missed nothin’

I just read an article talking about prematurity in America.  It states alarming statistics about the premature birth rate in our country.  I already knew it was high, and I expected to read something about routine induction contributing to it.

What I read instead was an interesting statistic:  Black women are more likely to deliver prematurely than white or Hispanic women, even with similar incomes and access to good health care.  While I was wondering what the factor may be for black women prematurely delivering (I have never had this issue!), I read the final factor: obesity.

A-ha!  I thought.  That’s probably the factor that Black women have that puts us at risk for premature delivery.  I’d like to see a study which correlates that.

We have to lose weight, yall!

I throw a little party every week. My Wednesday peeps and I have been meeting regularly for two years now. Lately, we’ve added to the party atmosphere with communal snacks. The conversation is always great, and the kids get good and tired out.
But, Michigan has been under an unbelievable heat wave lately. The temperature has been in the mid-90s for days, and it’s been humid, and all that heat index blah blah blah about 100s?
Needless to say, I was a little apprehensive about planning this week’s park day. I imagined myself sititng in some park somewhere trying to sit in the shade, melting with my belly sun-magnet. . .

Then, I remembered that we have some local beaches. I decided to invite my friends and their children to a county park with a beach. It cost $5 for parking for the day, but the fact that it is only 4.5 miles away, as opposed to Lake Michigan, (which is at least 30 miles away), made it an easy decision.

I had thought that I would go to the park whether my friends made it or not, but I was so thrilled at the turnout. Julie, Lilliian, Miraim, and Tracie made it out with their children today, and the best part was that all the ladies got in the water, too!

I love having fun friends.

The water was perfect–clear and warm. Even Esteban had fun playing in the water. There were lots of little fish following me around for a while. Xay borrowed a little net from a boy at the park, and he managed to catch a few of my tagalongs. I’m thinking he has a deep sea fishing adventure in his future. . .

It was so relaxing, even as I thought how foolish are we, in the middle of the day–splashing around in the water, just talking and hanging out.