BALTIMORE.TXT
We’ve made so many beautiful memories here. You’re where my grandparents planted their roots, where my parents found love, and where my sister and I spent countless days making memories with our cousins—catching lightning bugs in jars, only to release them back into the world.
I remember going to my grandparents’ house for family cookouts as if it were yesterday. My aunts and uncles would laugh and crack jokes over a game of cards while my cousins and I played in the backyard. The smell of hot dogs and burgers sizzling on the grill filled the air. My cousin and I would sneak a plate, making sure to grab some of my aunt’s famous deviled eggs before they disappeared. And my grandfather always had the orange soda on deck too!
Once the party was over and I had eaten myself into a food coma, we’d head home. I’d drift awake in the back seat of my father’s ’95 Honda Accord to the sound of “The Quiet Storm” playing softly on the radio. And don’t let my mom be the one driving—Big Momma did not want anyone touching her radio when Luther was on!
Those moments may have seemed small then, but now they mean everything. They are the sounds, scents, laughter, and love that made my childhood feel like home.
Baltimore, you hold generations of my family’s story—and you will forever hold a piece of my heart.
With love,Terrell