I know I'm black and female, but that doesn't mean I want to have illegitimate children. My mom and her two sisters all had their children out of wedlock. They figured if my grandmother, their mother, could raise six children without the help of a husband (my grandpa was a rolling stone), then they didn't have to get married or have a man in order to raise a child.
I don't want to go into the details of the three (four if you count my grandmother's sister) generations of illegitimate children born on my mom's side of the family. You'll just have to read it here.
Let's go back to Father's Day.
I spoke to my dad on the phone for about an hour. I really enjoy talking to him. He doesn't wine in my ear or ask me when I'm going to give birth the next generation of America's Most Wanted, future penitentiary bounded, etc.
I then spoke to an uncle of mine. That was a relief. He didn't ask me about a baby status. I think I will call him more often. He happens to be the only child of my grandmother to have children after marriage! Of course, his first marriage ended but at least he tried. Wife number 2 is helping him raise his two children.
Then there was my cousin R who's four years younger than myself. He and his chickehead girlfriend had a baby back in October. He just couldn't resist asking me the question "When you gon have a baby?" I felt like explaining how I don't think it's right to have children outside of marriage, but it would have completely went over his head. He's used to seeing it. Heck, his girlfriend didn't make it a requirement that he marry her before she started having his baby.
Since the birth of my cousin's baby, that means I am one of the last of my grandmother's grandchildren without a child. My other two childless cousins are still children. Did I mention my grandmother lived long enough to see her first great, great illegitimate grandchild? Yep.
