Summer Sixteen was full of travel adventures. The second trip of the summer was a trip with my girls, my bestie bestie BFFs, my college roommates. These two special girls are my sister Rasheda, and my best friend Courtney. For the past 3 years we’ve been taking a summer adventure, but this one would be different. This could possibly be the last summer trip for a few years due to adding some extra initials behind our name. In addition to our college degrees, by 2020, we will be a PhD, RN, and MBA. This trip had to be extra special, and what better place to do this than the Windy City, Chicago! This would be exciting since neither of us had visited before, and on 4th of July weekend. 

Being the natural planner that I am, I immediately began to ask for recommendations, look for hotels, and find must see Chicago attractions. We needed an agenda but not bound by time stamps. No wasting time sitting in the hotel trying to figure out things to do for the day.  A loose agenda was formulated and we were ready to begin our adventure. We all met in Atlanta airport ready to take on the city. We walked the airport ready to board our 9p flight to Chicago. Well, the wind was knocked out of our sails when we had to sit in the airport until after 3a to depart. We made it to Chicago right before sunrise; the sun rising over Lake Michigan made up for it! After catching a few hours of sleep it was time to start on our adventure, and our first stop was brunch! We loosely followed our agenda throughout our trip to include, the Navy Pier, a river cruise through the city, a blues show at Buddy Guys, Garretts popcorn, Chicago pizza at Giordano’s, and of course some shopping. 

We packed a lot of sightseeing and adventures into the trip, but nothing like the memories we will cherish forever. These ladies are more to me than friends, they’re my sisters! I’m so proud of them for continuing to reach their goals. Even though the next trip isn’t penciled in yet, we continue to make memories during the periods we all are in the same city! Our friendship continues to grow despite the miles between us, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds!

Summer 2016 can be summed up in one word TRAVEL, and I enjoyed every bit of it. My first trip of the summer was to Philadelphia,PA. My sister was accepted into the PhD program for the fall and needed to find an apartment. This would be the first time either of us had been to Philadelphia, but we were up for the challenge. The purpose of my trip was two-fold: find an apartment, and visit love park. As long as I can remember love park was on my bucket list, and this was my chance to cross it off. During our visit, we chose to stay in an AirBnB. It was a pleasurable experience, and I’ll definitely use them again. The first day of apartment shopping was anything but stellar. After not finding the first complex, to being up on by the landlord, we decided to pause and regroup. So we headed to find a famous Philly Cheesesteak. We asked around for recommendations and was actually  in the area and decided to try one out.  Please note: when looking for a Philly cheesesteak, do not go to the tourist recommendations. Our first experience of a Philly cheesesteak, we were not impressed. We headed for some comfort food- ice cream! Ice cream always makes the day better. Day 2 was a lot better for apartment hunting, and sissy even picked up some applications; things were looking up. Day 3 we looked at the remaining options and even had a second look from day 2 to make a decision. Sissy pooh decided on a studio apartment for her first living domain in the city of brotherly love. 

Our days were spent handling business, while our nights were spent exploring the city, and enjoying each other. The weather still had a chill in the air in June with the high in the 50s some days. Each day we walked between 13-15 miles, but it didn’t feel like it. We were walking, talking, and taking in the scenery around us. We quickly learned that we weren’t in the south, and they didn’t have any sweet tea! Night time adventures included dinner at a local favorite, beer gardens, watching the NBA finals, and a drag show. Our last full day there we had some extra time to explore, and visited love park. We arrived and it was a construction zone. My heart dropped. I knew I was in the right place from looking at maps and pictures, but the love statue wasn’t there. I was devastated. I looked all around until I found it across the street. All was right in my world at that point! We also visited the liberty bell. After seeing pictures in history books all my life, it was great to see it up close in person. 

Trip to Philadelphia was a success. I’m looking forward to visiting again now that my sister is settled in! 

That was the exact text I received from my friend. It was a gut check. I didn’t forget the blog. I actually hadn’t realized that it had been so long since I posted. I have a few ideas running around in my head for the next blog post. Stay tuned new material coming soon!! 

Happy Leap Day! Today is the last day of my favorite month 🙁. February is my favorite month because it’s the month of my favorite holiday, Valentine’s Day-the love holiday. The days leading up to Valentine’s Day love is all around at the grocery store, malls, and commercials. It cannot be ignored no matter how anti-Valentine’s Day one may be. But as I observed all the commercialization of this holiday, I began to wonder if true love was really being shown. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:4-5, 7-8‬ ‭NIV 

Love is also forgiving. This month has taught me of the forgiving power of love. I’m honored to have a front row seat watching my parents show forgiving love. To see them selflessly give of their time, money, and resources to those who take it for granted, or turn against them, but they continuously love. How do you do that? My response to them sometimes, no honestly, most of the time, is to stop showing love to those who don’t appreciate it. But each time they tell me, you can’t treat people how they treat you. Their position is constantly an example to me to show love. I was recently faced with a situation where I didn’t want to show love for my own selfish reasons. I was quickly reminded of a situation where I saw my mom show love to someone who did everything to but show love to her. If she could show love in that instance, my little situation was nothing to overcome. A relationship that was pretty much dead, was brought back to life by caring for it with love. 

Love is an action. You can’t just talk about it, you have to do it and show it, even when you don’t want to. You will feel a relief knowing that love stood up and all the other foolishness sat down. Love is sometimes being the bigger person, even when you don’t feel like it. 2016 is offering an extra day to show love. Let love stand up in your family, at your workplace, with your friends, and even strangers. Continue to show true love throughout the year, and not just the month of the February. On December 31, 2016, I want to be able to say love stood up in me this year! 

This weekend I received news that a young lady was killed in a car accident. Keva was my aunts Goddaughter, and grew up with me and my sister. When my mom told me about the accident she asked how old she was and I told her about 2-3 years older than us. After reading the news report, it was confirmed that she was 2-3 years older, she was 31 years old. A precious beautiful life, is over at 31 years old. When I logged on Facebook friends and family were posting their goodbye wishes and memories of Keva. I was speechless, and still in disbelief; I couldn’t a cohesive thought to convey what Keva meant to me. The only thing that kept coming to mind was the verse James 4:14 “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”

Life is precious, and life is a vapor. Don’t put off today for tomorrow. Whatever you want to accomplish in this life, do it. Let nothing and no one stop you from accomplishing the goals you have set. Life is precious and life is worth living. Live it to the fullest!

Earlier this week, I had a dentist appointment. I’m sitting in the chair with my headphones in, eyes closed and I sense the dentist stopped. I open my eyes, take out a headphone and he says oh you didn’t hear me. He repeats himself and says you need a root canal. I’m like okay no problem when can you do it. He then informs me that he will refer me to an endodontist that specializes in root canals since this would be a difficult tooth. I know how dentist office can be with scheduling new patients. My dentist returns about 5 minutes later with a referral slip in hand for my appointment the next day. I left my appointment, went back to work, and continued my evening routine. 
The next morning was go time. I planned to have the day off work because this wasn’t my first rodeo with a root canal and my previous experience was very painful. Just a little history regarding me and dentists: I DON’T LIKE GOING TO THEM, AND I HAVE ANXIETY WITH THEM. As I’m sitting in the endodontist office, I start getting anxious. The longer I sat there I wanted to just cancel the appointment and walk out. I didn’t have a bad wait, my thoughts just began to consume me. I quickly had to get my thoughts in check, and talk myself through this. Would my dentist recommend me to someone he didn’t trust their work? I even asked coworkers and friends if they’ve heard of this dentist and they all said he’s the best in town so why was I worrying? 

The hygienist called me back, and a few minutes later the dentist came in introduced himself and began the procedure. He talked me through every step as he was working with a very calm demeanor. He calmed my fears so much, I opened my eyes and turned my music off. I checked out with the front desk, and headed to work….yes I went to work, and stayed the remainder of the day. 

When I got settled at home last night, I began to think about the power of a referral. What normally would take weeks get an appointment, have a consultation, and then treatment, happened in less than a day. The relationship that my dentist has with the endodontist is a business relationship, but there is also trust between them. They trust each other’s work and will work their patients in. This got me to thinking who will trust my referral? A referral could be to a restaurant, a name brand, or even a job. I want to live a life where my referral can be trusted. The same way I trusted my dentist to refer me to one of the best endodontist in town, I want to be a trusted referral for a friend, family member, or stranger. Who can trust your referral?

I am currently completing my masters degree, and like most programs, it is a lot of writing. I’ve noticed the different course structure of my classes. Some professors assign a lot of small assignments, while others assign fewer larger assignments. I’ve learned my preference is more frequent smaller assignments. These assignments seemed more meaningful because there was a word count and you had to choose your words wisely all while fulfilling the requirement of the assignment. These assignments encouraged me to read more, and get a better understanding of the topic before I began writing. I would much rather have a quality assignment versus an quantity assignment with many words that could include rambling just to meet the word count. 

This type of thinking transferred over to my friendships and relationships. Did I really need to “claim” having 15+ close friends when they weren’t adding anything to the relationship? I put claim in quotes because that’s exactly what was happening it was just a title because there was no evidence of true friendship. I had to take a closer look and ask myself why was I holding onto the thought that it was a requirement or the status quo to have a large friendship circle. If you would have told me that I wouldn’t be life long besties with my childhood friends or friends from my high school and early college years, I wouldn’t believe it. But almost 9 years later, it’s reality. 

It was a hard reality to come face to face with, but I’m glad I came to it. Some people you just outgrow., and that’s okay. When I accepted that some people were no longer friends but merely associates, I could focus my attention on developing the true relationships that were present. As I dedicated and devoted my time to developing these relationships, they’ve become stronger, and I became a better person because of it. 

I’m thankful for the lessons learned and the growth that took place to get here. The friends that are in my life are true and real. I can be honest with them, and they can be honest with me about any situation, and we still remain friends- no love is lost. Friendship is a gift, and I’m thankful I’ve been blessed with individuals that I can call friend, and in return call me friend as well. I’ll take quality friendships over quantity friendships any day!  

 

A year ago, I was in my job for a little over 2 years and I was just there, going through the motions. 8 hours a day, 5 days a week I showed up, did my job, and went home. That was not the way I envisioned my professional career so I knew something had to be done. I started looking for new ways to improve my job, or new things to learn in the department. After doing this, I discovered I still felt the same. So it was time to do something I hadn’t planned on doing – look for another job. I began my search internally, looking for opportunities within the organization (after all it is just the best place to work!). After unsuccessfully finding another internally, I began to look for opportunities externally both within the city and outside the city. I was desperate. Was I ready to leave the city definitely not, but at this point I was willing to try anything. 

A week before Christmas, an internal job caught my eye. I interviewed with the hiring manager that week, and peer interviewed the next week. I was to hear something the next week. I got a call from HR to discuss salary, so I’m thinking yea this is it. After the process being drawn out 4 weeks, and I’m getting more discontent with each passing week, I was notified I did not get the position. At that point I was over it. My job search was over. I went to work now with a renewed purpose that maybe this is where I’m supposed to be. Work was becoming purposeful again. I received an personal email suggesting I apply for a new position that was just posted. I was skeptical after the process I had just went through 2 weeks prior. I applied for the job, and interviewed within 4 days. Five days after the interview I received a call that I got the position! I hesitated a week, before I turned in my resignation notice, because the thing I thought I wanted most, didn’t seem appealing anymore. My coworkers had become family, and I felt like I was abandoning my family! During my last week, My coworkers surprised me with a going away dinner to include 2 of my best friends, and a going away lunch. Talk about water works! I think I went through an entire box of tissue on my last day. 

Monday came and I began my new job. Anxious, nervous, excited were all emotions that I went through that first week. I was learning a lot and enjoying the new opportunity. After the orientation period, I felt like I knew enough to be dangerous. I had settled into the role, and could function independently. But something was missing. I began second guessing the new opportunity and my decision. Is this where I’m really suppose to be? Am I really suppose to be doing this? I don’t know enough to be successful in this role! These thoughts began to consume me, making it difficult to enjoy the role I dreamed of, and difficult to sleep at night. When I have a trouble sleeping something is seriously wrong. I began to search deep within myself and had to let all these doubts, fears, and aspirations go. This is where I was suppose to be, and I would enjoy it. 

Over the past 2 months, I have really settled into my job and planted roots there. I’ve accepted that there is a learning curve, and I must give myself time to learn the job, and the people. Coming from a job where I was the go-to person for everything, to a job where I did not know anything was a challenge. This job change has been a learning experience. I’ve learned more about the organization, more about the job, and more about myself. This transition period was all about patience. The most important lesson I’ve learned was to be patient with myself! 

Last week I decorated a gingerbread house with my department- my new family!  

Being a child of a Baptist preacher, it seems public speaking would be natural. I’m here to tell you that is not the case. I’ve never been one to volunteer for public speaking. My Mom, Dad, and sister can talk to a crowd of people and it not phase them one bit. I wasn’t blessed with that and I’m okay with it. 
Thursday morning when I got to work, I received a Facebook message from a former co-worker. I thought it was just a normal check in for us to catch up. She asked a question about doing a tour of the hospitals and if I would be willing to come speak to a group of health administration interns about my transition from intern to corporate America. I was thrilled she thought enough of me to ask me but immediately started second guessing myself. I told her sure and asked when was the event. I got a response this afternoon at 3pm. 
Not only have I agreed to do one thing I hate doing, but I’ve agreed to do it this afternoon. I started pondering what could I possibly say to a group of interns and I was still learning corporate America. That day I was unusually calm, no butterflies about my afternoon speaking moment. 
I arrived to the clinic, with nothing to say, only my phone and business cards. I was greeted by my co-worker that invited me and the other volunteers. While we waited for the interns to arrive , she gave me a tour of the clinic and we caught up briefly. 
After the interns arrived, I was introduced and the floor was mine. I don’t know what happened but the words just started flowing and they were making sense! I told them how I ended up in the field, applying for my first job, being promoted within the organization, and completing my Master’s degree. 
These young minds were soaking up everything I said. They even had questions! After I finished we took a picture and exchanged contact information. I even received friend requests on Facebook and invites to connect on LinkedIn.  
Walking back to my office, I felt a sense of joy. I had just shared “my story” with some interns who reminded me so much of myself just 3 years ago. I told them what I wished someone would have told me as I transitioned to the real world. I never thought of my intern to corporate world as a real story, but as I listened to myself talk, it really is a real story. A real story that I am proud of. So many times we underestimate our experience, and don’t share them. This experience has taught me that no matter how simple or how complex your story may be, it can be shared to help someone else! 

  

For the past 23 years, my parents have unselfishly gave of themselves to make sure that my sister and I, along with others, have had the opportunity to obtain a wonderful education. Today the selflessness continued at PCA 6th grade orientation. I’m forever thankful for the many sacrifices they’ve made to ensure I had the best education. I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without their unconditional love, support, and sacrifices.