Free Diary of Latoya Hunter by Latoya Hunter

know he meant it. I think he’s really proud. We’re also glad Michelle’s now in our family.
    Rondah catched the bouquet! That means she’s up next. I certainly hope so. Janice, there a lot more details to tell, but not right now. Tomorrow is another day. My aunt has decided to leave on Monday instead of tomorrow. So, Ann and I will spend time together after all. It was a lovely day and sadly it has to end now.

April 7, 1991
    Dear Janice
,
    A nn and I were together all day. The whole day was really busy. I wasn’t really working, but when you have guests, days seem busy. You always have to make sure they are happy. My mom was really getting on top of my nerves this evening. I think when a lot people are around it gets to her head. I didn’t like her at all today. It happens sometimesthat you love a person but sometimes you just don’t like them. It’s all very complex.
    Ann and I went out for a while, when we came back she was making her noise and that’s the last thing I wanted to hear. I wanted to enjoy my time with her. I went on the phone and I made her talk to Derek, she thinks he’s a nice person too. Well anyway, my mom was yelling at me to get off the phone. You have no idea how irritating she gets sometimes.
    Right now the men in the family are in the living room watching wrestling and my mom, aunt, and grandmother are talking in my parent’s room. I love it when everyone is in the same house. Did I ever tell you that? It’s one of my favorite feelings. It’s like when people take drugs and they get high, but my high is a safe, loving high. I wonder if I’m the only person in the world who feels that way. The love birds, Courtney and Michelle were here today. Their first day married and where are they? At their parent’s house. What a bummer! They’re putting off their honeymoon for a while because the wedding was such a big expense that they need to wait. They have a special glow to them I never saw before. Everything is going great around this side of town. I wish my relatives didn’t have to go back to Canada tomorrow. I’m going to have to go to school but they’ll be here when I get back. They’re leaving around five. Like somebody once said, all good things must come to an end.

April 8, 1991
    Dear Janice
,
    T he house is so dead now. It’s moments like this that I feel like crying. They all left me—why did they have to leave? It’s not fair. My life is back to its normal, boring self again. I shouldn’t really say that. Jamaica is coming up soon. Not soon enough though. I’ll know by tomorrow when I’ll be leaving. Rondah’s going to a travel agent today.
    Did I ever tell you how sometimes I miss Jamaica not in the normal but in a gut wrenching way. My brother rented a video one night and it showed an outdoor festival in Jamaica that had a lot of performers in it. It was in the night time in Jamaica and just the way it looked made me want to cry. I wanted to be right out there. I’m not sure what it was; it was how the night looked, I think. Is that strange or what? The night just brought on a certain feeling. The way the trees looked far away behind the stage, just brought me back to how, when I was back home, I used to love to go out, anywhere at all, as long as it was in the night. That day watching the video, I felt so homesick. I think it was the worst case of homesickness ever in history. I just can not wait to go back. I don’t just want to go, I
need
to go.

April 10, 1991
    Dear Janice
,
    W e’ll be leaving the 23rd. That’s 13 days from now. We got the flight booked and everything is set. School will just have to go on without me for two weeks. I’m really excited. I need clothes! I need a lot of summer clothes because as everyone knows, the sun’s always shining in Jamaica. I remember when I saw snow for the first time. In Jamaica, the closest anyone came to snow was if they got married and people threw rice at them. When it snowed for the first time when I came