"LAURYN"... the name is mine.

My brother and I are CERTAIN that we will be naming our future daughters "Lauryn" (for more reasons than one....well, maybe not.lol)... 

Just as sure that my brother and I are of the male gender, our daughters WILL be named Lauryn.

This has become a serious issue for many reasons, and has escalated to more than a few heated arguments.

A few points:

We BOTH can not actually name our daughters the same name. Neither of us wants that... thats stupid. Our daughters would think their fathers are stupid. Our wives probably wouldn't agree with that either... cuz its stupid.

Knowing that either of us will undoubtedly make this move when the situation presents itself, it puts a liiiiiiiittle (**holds index finger and thumb as if pinching salt next to eyes while squinting**) stress on our life plans, as far as building a family. I mean, its almost to the point that I need to make sure that I get a girlfriend, get married and have that baby before the competition. 

If either of us actually gets to the finish line before the other, I don't want little Lauryn Mukoro to be resented by the losing party.... She didn't do anything wrong. I mean, its not her fault she was born first!! Also, I don't want his or my daughter to be looked at as a loser all her life either.. Like his LAURYN is and will always be better than my..... ELEVEN(<-- weird name I know, but thats a blog all in itself.. long story short, I think its a great girl name, but I digress). Or, MY little LAURYN, is better than his little girl, Ashley "TooLate" Mukoro...lol 


Lord forbid Lauryn grows up and does something real great with her life, like become Dr. Lauryn Mukoro or  become an Astronaut or somethin! My daughter cant take that kind of pressure from her older cousin... shoot, I can't take that pressure. 


I may not even love my kid as much... 


lol ok, too much.. but you catch my drift.


All in all, this is a stupid problem to have and can only be dreamt up by the Mukoro boys. 


If he does beat me tho, I hope Lauryn is one ugly baby, that grows up to be a dope fiend....




I kid, I kid...lol


freedom reigns. 

Longest Ride Home...

It had to have been like the 10^th grade. By this time, I had had several girlfriends, as most kids do these days (I am not encouraging having gf’s, I’m just sayin’), but none, I repeat NONE had met my parents. I don’t even know if any of them knew what they looked like. I had gotten in the habit of telling my girlfriends, that that introduction was prolly never going to happen.

“Trust me, that aint what you want…”

So yea, its the summer after the 10^th grade and I of course have a girlfriend. She was cute too; light-skinned and popular, pretty much the only things that mattered to me back then, lol. No but really, we found ourselves “falling in love” with each other and I was willing to do a lot for her.

During school, I had no problem seeing her. I saw her during the day, and most days after school, since I was in sports. So not telling my parents I had a girlfriend was no big deal in that it had not yet inhibited us from having a normal relationship. The summer although was a different animal. How could I tell my parents that I wanted to go and see my girlfriend? How could I make them understand?

Frankly, I COULDN’T.

They are African, and dating at my age is grounds for a slap that my kids (if I can still have any) would feel.

So this day, the day that will live in infamy, I decided to tell my father that I was going for an interview for a summer job at the then new Super Target in First Colony. In my defense, I was REALLY going to go to Target… I was just going to pick up my girlfriend and have breakfast at Denny’s on d way.lol

I left the house that morning confident that I had it all planned out. I was going to jump in my Volvo station wagon, swing by her house in all my glory and take my baby to breakfast….(*southern accent*) I could not have dreamt of the unfortunate events that were to follow..

Upon arriving at Denny’s me and my baby sat in a booth by the window.

Waiter asks for our drinks… 2 OJs..

She asks me what I’m going to eat….moons over hammy

I ask the same…. Grand Slam

I glance out the window to check on the whip… 85 volvo sittin right.lol

Cars passin by… ’89 benz catches my eye…

My heart… stops

89 benz?!! That can’t be my dad’s car!!!

I quicly get myself together and I exclaim, “My Dad followed me up here!”

Luckily my girlfriend knew the deal, and a certain fear struck her face too… My next move has to be the most cowardly move I have ever made in my life!!

I told my gf to leave and go to the restroom, and I would call her when get out ..

Yea, I know… pretty weak.

Anyway she did what I said, and I was left at the table for a moment to gather my thoughts to assess what may go down…

“Man, I hope he don’t come in here hollerin”

“What if he try and hit me in front of all these people.”

“What if he want me to leave with him, I would have to leave o gal in the bathroom!!”

I try to act normal as my pop comes walking up to the building…

He stops at my window and knocks on the glass.

I pulled one hell of an oscar performance, when I acted to be surprised and jumped in my seat, as if startled, and stared at him in bewilderment… he stared back…

I shrugged my shoulders, as to say. “what are you doing here? Can’t you see I am here by myself.”

He points to the other glass of orange juice sitting on the table across from my glass.

I look at the glass. I look at him with a look as if saying, "so.."

He shakes his head and walks off….

At this point I am officially shook. I cannot believe what has just happened and I cannot imagine how much trouble I will be in when I get home. I am panicked and scatterbrained. So scatterbrained that I LEAVE MY GIRLFRIEND AT DENNY’S AND TELL HER TO GET HER MOTHER TO COME PICK HER UP!!

Yea, I know….pretty weak.

That was the longest ride home of my life. 

Share everything, or keep some...?

Thought about this today. Scenario is as follows...


Your GIRLFRIEND has kept a journal/diary for years and you have never thought anything of it. You just dont care, and you also understand that there are boundaries that u have to respect in a relationship.


Years go by....


The two of you are happily married now and your WIFE is still diligent in her journal entries.
MY question is, do you, as her husband, have the RIGHT to read her journal? If she insists that they're her private thoughts and would prefer that they remain that way.... is that ok?


I'm sure that somewhere in the realm of psychology it encourages people to get out their thoughts and emotions on paper as some sort of therapeutic exercise, but within the realm of MARRIAGE, do the rules change?


I'm asking a lot questions this time because I'm straddling the fence on this one (<----bad figure of speech).
..........

I roll over in the bed to see my wife writing away in her journal...
Me: "hey honey, u wanna share some of what you writin' there?"
My wife: " Naw son, stay where u at?"  (i envisioned her with a NY accent... and subtly disrepectful.lol)
Me: "C'mon babe, stop playin... I just wanna here your thoughts. You know, get in your mind."
Wifey: "umm... I dont think thats a good idea...hun." 
She pats my chest twice and gets back to writing...

now I know I over-did it, but u know what I mean..
She gotta be hiding SOMETHING, right?!!
My imagination would run wild with all the things she could be writing!!


Divorce or some form of domestic violence is sure to follow such behavior...(the latter may be a bit extreme) 


On the other hand, if I had a journal, which I don't, and I wrote my inner most feelings about everything around me, I'm sure I would probably have some messed up stuff in there about my mate that I probably would not want her to see, much less share, for fear of her looking at me or our relationship different. 


Think about it. If you found out that your mate found one of your friends attractive, or they find out that you actually hate his/her family, this could cause some serious rifts in a relationship; and I dont think I am being far fetched in my examples... these are normal thoughts that people could have! I mean is sharing EVERYTHING healthy in a relationship?


So, yes, to save yourself an arguement over stuff that could hurt someone's feelings or stuff that happened so long ago that you don't even feel the same way,...YES, don't share your journal...


Could go either way...
be free... 
let me know wut u think?
-Ono