Unicorns and all that jazz

I recently decided to get back on the horse and into the saddle of internet dating. Reading a message I had been sent, I decided to reply. Messages flew back and forth, banter, jokes, the usual questions asked and answers replied in the "getting to know you" phase. We decided to swap numbers and when he rang, the conversation started off well.... until Luton's answer to Malcolm X himself decided to preach a sermon I have heard one too many times before. It began with him asking why my voice sounds the way it does. Apparently I sound more like an extra from The Only Way Is Essex than a black girl. My voice is all wrong. It was a bit awkward but I ignored him and tried to steer the conversation back on track, he wasn't having it.  You're vegetarian? So you don't eat chicken?! - He was clearly disgusted.  Rah, you have all those animals? That's some white peoples foolishness!- I should have hung up but I didn't. So if your kids don't se...

Something that is very common in this new millennium is blended families. Step, half, full; even close friends can be classed as family when your own blood abandons or lets you down. Children with more than one partner is a regular occurrence (for both men and women). If you have read my previous blog - Baby Mama  - then you will know that I am one of these women, having 2 children by 2 different men. My children know and understand they have different fathers but as far as they are concerned, they are just sisters. There is no half in the equation. They fight like sisters, joke like sisters and love each other like sisters. They have the same childhood, they have the same family, same experiences and as they grow older, the same memories. Even on the days when they are physically beating each other, screaming and shouting, their relationship with each other is beautiful to me. And it reminds me of how different my relationship is with my own siblings. I am th...

My Mum and her husband have been married for 10 years, together for more than that. It feels strange to call him my step dad as we are very close in age (he is only a few years my senior) but if you were to picture what a good step dad is and does - you would be picturing him. Dave has always been there for my girls and I. They call him Grandad and he proudly lets them. He is involved in every aspect of their lives and his approval means more to them than anyone else's, even mine. He is their only male role model and they couldn't have a better one. It made me so happy when one day,  my eldest daughter said she is going to marry a man exactly like her Grandad- hard working, kind, strong and all about family. Dave is the first person I call when something terrible happens as he always knows the answer. I am a never ending disaster and he has never judged me. In all the years he has been around, Dave has only shouted at me once. One time! When I hit a parked car and drove away, I...