A Day with the Buddhist

I haven’t written on this blog in a while. I’ve been ridiculously busy with my real life. I moved from New York to my hometown of Detroit. On a whim… cuz that’s how I get down.

Honestly, I moved because I walked into my grandmother’s house and I realized how much I love and miss her. She’s 87 and her two sisters died last year within 11 days of each other. She’s still kinda sad and I see it in her face and eyes. I realized that everything that I was doing in Harlem, I could do at home and still lay up under my mom, my grandmom, and my kid.

So, I packed my shit and came home.

It’s been mostly good so far.

A big part of moving home has been reconnecting with my exes. None of this is my doing, but it was expected. We are older. And I have been getting a lot of “I should have treated you better,” types of calls. Those calls are easy to make when you’re old and have no money saved, and your dick barely works. Now you wanna settle down… with me.

No thanks.

But, I hang out with them occasionally. Because they are bad boyfriends, but good people. Last week, I spent a day with “The Buddhist.”

TB and I had an on again/off again relationship for about 10 years. Which is 9 years too long. We’ve kicked it through multiple cities and multiple partners. Once I spent the night on his couch after his then-girlfriend cooked for me and he braided my hair.

He’s vegan now… although when he put cheese on the mashed potatoes and sautéed turnip greens he cooked, I said nothing.

He likes for me to help him with his stretches and he got the symbols for the sacred chakras tattooed on his body. He likes to quote the vedas and lecture me on what my periods should be like. You ever been grown and had a man lecture you on your period? It’s not as fun as it sounds.

But, he’s a good dude. And he makes me move my body. While doing stretches, he tells me, “I’m the Buddha and you’re the Buddhist.” I disagree, but again, I say nothing. I just do my best to hit this child’s pose. Because one thing I won’t do with my exes, in addition to sleeping with them, is argue with them.

Instead, I just occasionally hang out with them… and vaguely wonder what things could have been. But, I’ve changed too much. And they haven’t really changed at all.