Fear of flying

Last year, we had a layover in Puerto Rico and my oldest son jumped into the swimming pool and went down the water slide not knowing how deep it was at the bottom. Of course, he started to sink, panic set in and he was pulled out by a gentleman right before we could get to him.

This summer, the first thing I did was enroll him in swimming lessons. My normally fearless son who loved the water, was so nervous about swimming class. He kept telling me that he didn’t want to go. The weeks leading up to it were torture for him.

We woke up yesterday, I fed him breakfast and got ready to take him swimming. When we arrived, he was okay. There was a playground outside and since we were early, I let him run around.

His entire demeanor changed the minute we stepped into the building. I had never seen such anxiety or fear on my sons face. He was so nervous.

It took some coaching but he got into the pool. He also blew some bubbles after much coaxing to get him to put his face in the water. He also attempted to float on his back.

At the end of his lesson, he was excited to go back next week.

If you have ever read the book The Alch.emi.st, you know that lessons to be learned are placed all over the universe and in plain view. It takes a trained eye to not overlook them and an open heart to decipher the messages. 

Today, I saw my son conquer his fear. He lept out on faith, took a chance and found out that he had the ability within him to do something he had not thought possible.

I can’t overlook that this was God sending me a message and I need to figure out how to apply it in my daily life.

Happy Father’s Day

Today I am celebrating Mr. 1969, one of the best Father’s I know. I am thankful for him. Thankful that God has brought him into my life to be my partner in raising my two wonderful sons. I celebrate him….not for what he can provide but for all of the small things he does that no one notices but me. The way he teaches them to hold doors for ladies, when he tells them that their job is to always help mommy carry bags from the grocery, to say yes ma’am and sir when they encounter an older person. He teaches them the foundations of being men. More than anything he can give to them, he leads by example and shares his time with them. He talks to them, plays with them, reads to them and helps to raise them. He is a great Father and today is really his day.

My other two Father’s also deserve celebrating. One for giving birth to me, the other for raising me.

You all know that my mom was a single mom. She did it all and I am who I am because of her love, time and effort. I am a product of her upbringing and everything I do comes from a lesson she has taught me.

My Dad was not around in my life on a daily basis. In the past 8 years, we have reconnected and are playing catch-up. Our relationship is getting stronger but days like today are hard for me. I will call him tonight and wish him a happy Father’s Day but there are still hollow, empty spaces wishing they were filled with memories instead of longing. I am moving forward and that’s all I can do. The damage has been done and I can’t live in a broken down house forever….I have to accept the renovations and hope that when they’re done…..it will feel like home again.

To all the Father’s out there….thank you and enjoy your Day. If anyone is going to change the way the world is heading….. It will be you. Recognize your power, fulfill your destiny and continue to steer your children in the right direction. Now go eat some barbeque and wear that tie tomorrow with pride.

Dumb as Hell.

Most of you know that I am a *AHEM* highly opinionated individual right?

Tali 2′s (Cupcake Smasher/Fish Killer) daycare is having a Spring Dance. Now I know, call me jaded…..many of you will say “That’s so cute.” “What is he wearing?” My response?

“WHAT THE FUDGE DO 3 YEAR OLDS NEED A DANCE FOR?”

See, I am pretty old fashioned when it comes to my kids. I firmly believe that kids need to be kids for as long as possible. I hate kids doing, pardon my language so early in the morning….GROWN AZZ SHYT.

The working mommy missed one PTA meeting and look what we have….a dance. They want the kids to dress up.

Call me crazy but is this what 3 year olds want to do? Is this actually fun for the kids? I don’t know about anyone else’s three year old, but mine would have taken a picnic, bouncy house, play in the sprinklers, trip to the zoo type of party over a dance.

Who is this mess for? The parents?

This right here is what’s wrong with us. We are pushing these kids to be too grown, too fast. Does a 3 year old need to be worried about finding an outfit and getting her hair done for a dance? Come on people. We’re not talking middle school or junior high. We’re talking 3 year olds.

Mr. 1969 says I’m overreacting. What say you? All I can think about is this…

 

Somebody’s Watching Me…..

Pssst…..over here. I have an intern that is assigned to me for the next six weeks. She follows me around, sits in my office and is basically shadowing me all over the building.

She is smart as a whip and adorable. However, I NEED SOME DAMNED SPACE.

I can’t check my gossip blogs, look at shoes online, check my news blogs….nothing. How am I supposed to kill my ten hour days if she is tailing me?

Every time I hand her a project thinking it will kill most of her day…..she finishes it in an hour. *sigh* Of all the interns I could get…..I get super intern.

WHERE ARE THE SLACKING INTERNS THAT JUST WANT TO PUT THE JOB ON THEIR RESUME AND NOT DO ANY REAL WORK WHEN YOU NEED EM?

I just made up a random project so she could leave me to blog in peace.

Do any of you have an intern story to tell? What were your internships like in school? Tell the truth….were you a super intern or a slacker? Put me down for slacker

The Aging Process

In three weeks, your girl 1969 will turn 39. Did you hear that? Thirty-nine years old.

In my 39 years, I have learned lots of lessons. Some were easy to learn and crystal clear from the onset. Others I learned by getting my azz kicked, being dragged through the mud or getting stomped on. Either way, I learned them and guess which ones I remember the most? Yup, the ones that hurt.

Unfortunately, you have to go through painful experiences to gain the wisdom and strength you need to move your life forward. There is no growth without overcoming obstacles. That’s what life is all about.

A friend of mine has been helping his younger sister plan her wedding to a man that she loves. The family is not thrilled with her selection for a mate. He is a ne’er do well. Goes from job to job. Not always supportive, etc. They have all tried to talk to her but she loves him. Their wedding was scheduled for this weekend. Seems that they had an argument last night and her fiancee pushed her and she flipped over her couch. She immediately called the police and had him arrested. Wedding canceled.

God throws pebbles and when you ignore them….he will eventually throw a ROCK. Amen?

Sometimes, we question why things happen when we know that there are always warning signs. Arguably, we probably ignore them or don’t pay attention.

As I get older, I am learning to focus on stuff that I question. When I feel it in my gut that it’s wrong…I am doing a better job at cutting ties, walking away or focusing my energies in a different area.

39. Not really old. But too old for DRAMA.

The weekend recap

We spent the weekend at the Od.un.de African Festival in Philly. Just sharing some flicks of the day and some Philadelphia scenery.

Hotel Chronicles…Enter the Dragon

Amy set out on a mission to avenge her wounded ego.

She started out by taking that rubber cement glue and sitting at home one night and personally hand rolling almost 100 little tiny nasty sticky glue balls. She brought them in and proceeded to take out one managers office. She stuck them everywhere like balls of snot. It was so delightfully disgusting. She put them on his phone receiver, his stapler, in his files…..I mean everywhere. He was finding those things for months and he didn’t know what they were made of which made it even more amusing. Ewwwww.

Then she decided to have her friend from New York call me up on the phone (I was getting married to Mr. 1969 in a few months) and pretend to be from Kle.in.feld’s  in Brooklyn…. this individual proceeded to tell me that my wedding dress was ruined by a freak accident and that they were not going to be able to replace it in time for my wedding. Ahem. My office took great joy in hearing me introduce a whole new level of curse words to that individual on the phone. *sigh* The entire plethora of Caribbean slang came out of my mouth before I heard Amy cracking up at her desk.

There was the blow up doll that Amy got inside one managers trunk. His wife was NOT amused to find that when she went grocery shopping. (He had some ‘splaining to do over that one.)

And last but not least….Amy filled one managers office with balloons from floor to ceiling over the weekend. When he opened his door on Monday and the balloons didn’t even spill out? They were just stuck. You couldn’t even get in the office to start popping. (She had engineering help her to drop them in from the ceiling tiles inside the office).

We finally conceded defeat and declared Amy…..the official greatest Prankster in the history of our Hotel. We even made her a crown. We still talk about her exploits in hushed tones, as we look over our shoulders. Beware the Dragon.

The Hotel Chronicles

As you know by now, hotel employees work LOOOOOONNNNGGGG hours.

With all of that time in the building, we tend to get bored. We are constantly dreaming up elaborate ways to prank our fellow co-workers.

We had a really sweet assistant in our office named Amy. She was so genteel and southern. She lived alone, fresh out of college and off a farm in Lancaster, PA. You know, someone that would NEVER hurt a fly. So….would we leave such a nice individual alone? Nope. Prime victim for a practical joke.

Amy saved and saved and finally bought her first car. A G.eo pr.ism. She was so proud of her little car. Well, we took her car keys while she was at lunch one day and moved her car from it’s parking space to the top floor of the parking garage.

At 6pm, we all waited to make sure we walked out together as we closed up for the day. Poor Amy, we all walked to our cars, started waving…..saying “Goodnight”.

She stood there and looked around. I saw the confusion, then the tears started welling up…..one of my co-workers asked her if everything was okay….

“My car is gone.” she said softly.

We started asking her where did she park it? Is she sure she drove today (LOL)?

Poor Amy looked like she was about to have a nervous breakdown. All she could muster up was “It was right here. I always park it here.”

Finally, just as she was about to call the police, we fessed up and went and got her car……

I know, I know……how could we do that to poor sweet Amy……

But little did we know….Amy was the queen of pranks. We had only unleashed the dragon.

 

The First…..

I am up watching history. Mr. O.ba.ma has clinched the Democratic Nomination for President. Next stop the White House. YES WE CAN.

The pride I feel is unbelieveable. I can’t believe that I am watching this in my lifetime. What this means to me, my sons and my family is undescribable.

I am so proud of America. We voted and we spoke on it. The change is coming.

The Single Life

I saw Se.x in the C.ity this weekend with two new girlfriends. We had a blast having the night out, indulging in sushi and Cosmos.

Watching the movie brought me back to my own single days in New York.

It may be hard for some of you to believe but 1969 was quite the hottie back in her heyday. In addition, my crew consisted of New York’s finest young and fabulous Divas. We were truly a force to be reckoned with everywhere we went.

We had the entrepreneur, the young attorney, the fashionista, the one with a steady boyfriend, the party girl, the “fiend” and the sensible one. We had every Se.x in the City character right in our own entourage.

The city was the greatest place to be young and single. Our everyday cares were always 1) What to wear? 2) Where are we going? and 3) Who’s paying for our fun?

When you are young, attractive and overflowing with confidence….the world is truly at your disposal. Some of us dated athletes, future directors and R&B singers. We got gifts, ate in the finest restuarants and enjoyed some of the perks of being eye candy.

However, as we got older….the party lifestyle lost it’s shine. For most of us, we realized that we wanted more out of life. We started to look at how we were getting treated by these men and began to realize we couldn’t be in relationships where the men loved themselves more than they did us. We grew up. We got smarter. We wanted more and set out to find it.

I am happy to say that the majority of us have moved on from the fast city lifestyle.

Some are married, many have fulfilled their dreams of owning a home, starting a family or achieving career success. The multiple degrees, peer recognition and accolades have followed my friends as they shifted focus and took their lives in different directions. We still have one or two who are lost out there waiting for the right baller to come along and take them shopping. Overall though we did okay.

So as I sat watching the movie….I thought about my girlfriends and all that we had been through together. The way we stuck together from our teens through today, as we sit on the verge of turning 40. We have been through so much…..from cheating, crying, laughter to enjoying so many blessings.

For me, the movie is a celebration of life and friendship. I don’t know about you but for me, life is so much more enjoyable when you have people who share the journey.