Author: TPatterson

Timely Word of Encouragement

This is an email forward that I actually took time to read. And I’m glad I did. -Ms. Tee

Thank God For Closed Doors

We need to learn to thank the Lord for closed doors as we do an open door. The reason God closes doors is because He has not prepared anything over there for us.

If he didn’t close the wrong door we would never find our way to the right door. Even when we don’t realize it, God directs our paths through the closing and opening of doors. When one door closes, it forces us to change our course. Another door closes, it forces us to change our course yet again. Then finally, we find the open door and walk right into our blessing. But instead of praising God for the closed door (which kept us out of trouble), we get upset because we “judge by the appearances.” And in our own arrogance, or unawareness, we insist that we know what is right.

We have a very present help in the time of need who is always standing guard. Because He walks ahead of us, He can see trouble down the road and HE sets up roadblocks and detours accordingly. But through our lack of wisdom we try to tear down the roadblocks or push aside the detour signs. Then the minute we get into trouble, we start crying, “Lord how could this happen to me?”

We have got to Realize that the closed door was a blessing. Didn’t He say that “No good thing will He withhold from them that love him?”

If you get terminated from your job – don’t be down, instead thank God for the new opportunities that will manifest themselves – it might be a better job, or an opportunity to go to school. If that man or woman won’t return your call – it might not be them, it might be the Lord setting up a road block! (just let it go).

I’m so grateful, for the many times God has closed doors to me, just to open them in the most unexpected places.

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way.” – Psalm 37:23. The Mountaintop is glorious, but it is in the Valley that I will grow!

Have a wonderfully blessed weekend.

I Remain,

Sheilah

Hoping Maybe You Will Be There

I had a dream last night that was breath taking.

After not being able to sleep the entire night, I actually saw the sun rise. I turned off the TV and covered my face with the blanket. I had spent the entire night crying and worrying about if I was going to die because of whatever is going on with my body and my recent hopelessness concerning my situation.

Before I knew it, I guess I was dreaming because I was walking through the halls of this elementary/high school. The halls were very narrow and I kept bumping into people but they all gave me annoyed looks as if it were my fault. Everytime I tried to speak to someone to ask them where I should go, they gave me this look that said, “We don’t want you here.”

I remember seeing myself in a mirror. I looked like me except I had a long, long Rapunzel type ponytail. It was jetblack. I passed a group of men and as men do, they started cat calling and one even grabbed me. I jerked away and screamed at him, “If you ever do that again I will f— you up!”

As I walked on and tried to smile at people, they all turned away from me. Eventually, no one would even look me in my face. At one point as I tried to walk through a field in the school, one girl ran the other way rather than walk next to me. I decided to leave the school and go home but someone stopped me and asked me for a pass.

“I don’t work here,” I replied and kept strolling.

Another woman stopped me and rolled her eyes. “Ms. Tee, you don’t work here? Yes you do. You are our intern.” She rushed away as if I disgusted her.

I kept on trucking home but before I could navigate the maze of the school I saw my bestfriends Tamara and Anna in the parking lot. They were both laughing and crying. They were wearing graduation gowns and caps and when I looked down, I was wearing one too.

Tamara’s family was there laughing with her and she called me over to take a picture. I did. Anna did the same then told me she had to run to meet her boyfriend.

I realized that no one was there with me to take pictures so I decided to walk home. Tamara stopped me and came over to hug me and my ponytail began to unravel. Row after row of fake hair fell from my head and I asked Tamara to help me fix it.

“Just wear your own hair,” she suggested. “Brush it.”

I took a brush and brushed out my own hair, which was very curly, into a chin length bob. Everyone looked at me and smiled. Then I walked away, trying to go home.

I passed by a bank and there were people standing in the parking lot. At first glance I didn’t think I knew any of them but then I saw him: T from my old church in Gainesville. He was standing behind a video camera and setting it up to record himself.

As I watched him, he ran over to his wife and hugged her. They were joined by a little girl and an even smaller little girl with lots of curly hair. Then T started to cry and praise God. His wife kneeled on the ground and cried too.

He looked over at me and saw me. He pointed to me and came over to me crying. “This is what God can do, Tee! This is what God gave me! A family! I thought I had a family before Tee but THIS is a REAL family! They love me Tee! They are flesh of my flesh! God is gooood! This is what God can do! He can give you a family!”

He continued to praise God as I caught his wife’s eye. She was crying uncontrollably and holding both of her beautiful daughters. She looked over at me and as if I could read her mind I mouthed the words, “I’m okay.”

She and I have a history together. We were both single mothers back in college and she was very sweet to me until a manipulative woman came into our lives and caused craziness to ensue. But even after that, we were cool. She eventually married T and her daughter became his. I often wonder how they are doing and from the looks of things they are prospering.

I knew she was worried about me. I knew she wondered if I was okay that I was the last single mom standing. “I’m okay,” I mouthed again as T continued to praise God for his wife and daughters.

I kneeled down and began to cry. Not regular tears. Soul wrenching tears from deep within my gut that moved my entire body and arrested my breathing. I watched him praising God for his family and I cried and cried, kneeling on the pavement. I couldn’t breathe.

When I thought my heart couldn’t take it anymore, a voice said, “That’s okay. You will win too.” Suddenly a limo appeared and I took a look at it as it stopped in front of me.

That’s all I saw before my eyes went black and I woke up gasping for air. I ran into the kitchen and grabbed my inhaler and took a breath.

I took another one.

As my lungs opened the tears began to fall. I cried for their happiness and my loneliness. I cried for Tamara and her unconditional love for me. I cried because I never seem to fit in. I cried because the promise of success seems so far away.

Then I did the only thing I could do to make the pain go away. I made myself a cup of tea and I sat down to write…

Tell, Tell Signs

When I first moved to Miami I worked for the historically Black newspaper here and I enjoyed my few months of service. Up until the very end I dealt with a lot of issues but for the most part I loved waking up and going to work.

Recently, a report was published in another newspaper updating the community on the progress of the paper. If you didn’t believe me when I told my stories about the uh…”unique” leadership style of the publisher, maybe you will believe the countless others who contributed to this investigative report.

Changing Times
For more than 80 years the Miami Times has been the voice of the black community, but fewer and fewer people are listening….

If you don’t remember the events surrounding my exit from the paper, I have reposted the story to remind you.

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

I think it’s time to let you all know what’s been going on with me. I’ve been going through a rough patch, yes, I know I told you all before. But it’s a little more rough than you would expect.About two weeks ago I was working hard, planning my job fair for the newspaper. We have a large turnover because of “personality conflicts” with the management. I usually work about 50 hours a week, but that week I worked over 60 hours because I wanted my event to be on point, just like I want everything that I am involved with to be.

The day for the job fair came and just as I imagined everything went extremely well. I was so proud of myself and the staff and everyone was pleased with how smoothly things ran. I hosted the event and when it was all done all I wanted to do was sleep.

My publisher called me into her office and congralulated me on my event. She slipped me a $100 bill and told me to get myself something nice. She also told me that she would be treating the entire staff to dinner that evening at Houston’s (a nice restaurant on the water) to celebrate our success.I was extremely pleased that my work was recognized but I was really looking forward to my paycheck the next day when my publisher, who had promised me a raise said that she would “surprise me” and give me just what I deserved.

The next day I worked hard, filling in for our missing receptionist as well as handling my own workload. At the end of the day when my paycheck was handed to me I was shocked. My publisher had set my salary at $21K a year.My eyes began to blur. $21K.

Didn’t I work my butt off for two months for this raise? I hadn’t even seen my sons for 3 days straight because I was working overtime for the paper. Don’t I operate in the most professional of work manner, motivating those around me to excel? Didn’t my hard work and dedication mean anything to her?I guess not. I guess she didn’t really care when I told her that I don’t get support from my children’s father for living expenses. There’s no way anyone can live decently in Miami on $21K with two kids. Am I destined to live the same life I grew up in? Will my kids have to grow up in the projects like I did, dodging bullets on the way from school?

I waited until the boys had eaten dinner to give her a call at home. She had given me her phone number and told me to call if I ever needed to talk.

“Hello. Did I call you at a bad time?”
“No. What’s up?”
“I just want to know if you have been dissappointed with my work. Am I not performing up to your expectations?”
“Why are you asking me this?”
“Because I just got my paycheck and you said you would surprise me, but I wasn’t expecting this. I can’t live on this pay?”
“Well, you know what? You just got here and I can’t be paying you all kinds of money like that. Besides, I just gave you a hundred dollars in your hand! If that’s not enough for you then you have to do what you have to do! You’re very aggressive and sometime’s that a good thing, but right now you’re going overboard! And you know what if you want more, you can just kiss my ass!”

She hangs up.I sit there stunned, looking at the phone in my hand.

Kiss my ass.

Kiss my ass.

I pour out my heart for you. I implement structure into your business and take on so many different jobs, just because you promised me i would get what I deserved. I work so many hours to make you look professional and you pay me a slave wage and tell me to kiss your ass.

It took me the whole weekend to decide what I was going to do.On Monday I called in sick. My lil sister said that was a punk move. But I had a plan. I faxed my resume out to everyone I could think of and went and re-visited those companies that I had made contacts with before to give them an updated copy of my resume. Which, by the way, is OFF-THE-CHAIN with all of the experience that I gained working at the newspaper. My stock has gone up.

By Tuesday I called in again, because I had already set up three interviews for the week.I went back to work on Wednesday morning. I was nervous. I hate negative confrontations. But I smiled and went to my office. I blinked twice. Someone had been rifling through all of my files and my computer’s hard drive had been completely torn out. What the…?

The publisher was not in yet, so I asked the office manager what had happened and she said she didn’t know. I reminded her that I had an orientation to give that morning to a new employee and she told me to just recreate the information on another computer. What?

I got through the orientation as best as I could without my files that were stored on my computer. I was handling personnel all by myself until I could find a decent assistant. After I set the new employee up at her station I went to my office and sat down, wondering what I was going to do without my computer, which I called The Lifeline. All of my projects were stored on there.

The office manager came back to my office and asked me to hurry up and go through the fat stack of applicants from the job fair and decide who I wanted to call back. I had to finish grading the tests from all of the applicants and then sort through them to refer the outstanding applicants to the publisher.

THEN, she wanted me to draft a letter to all of the applicants thanking them for coming to our fair. I told her that I had already written the letter and if they had not taken apart my computer, then they would have it. She just told me to write it over again and to hurry up because I had receptionist duties for five hours that day. What the…?

I walked outside. I called Mimi from my cell phone and I talked to her for a minute. As usual she didn’t tell me what to do. She just told me that I had to stick by whatever decision I made and roll on.I hung up with her, took a deep breath and walked back inside. I could not give one more minute of my professionalism to such an organization that does not care about me, my family or my hard work.

I asked for a resignation form, filled it out and left.

I cried in the car on the way home. How could I tell my mama that I had quit my job? I have two kids. I felt like a loser.

I couldn’t help but wonder how all this could happen. I did the right thing. I served the Lord. I worked hard to excel beyond my company’s expectations because I loved working hard. If I did the right thing all this time, how could I be so unnappreciated and disrespected?

Maybe there is just something about me. Maybe this whole dream of changing the world and uplifting millions will remain that, just a dream. Maybe I just suck.

After my pity party, I got up and went at it, applying for jobs non-stop. I’m not completely broke but I’m almost there. My kids won’t go hungry though. We’ll be alright.

Some people say my standards are too high. They say my expectations are off base. But I know what I am worth and I know it is NOT $21K. I am valuable. I am ambitious. I can do anything and I can make any company better just by my presence.Someone will be lucky to have me.

Until I find that place. I’m sitting here. Unemployed. Living with my mama. With my two kids.~sigh.

Ya’ll know what? I am scared.

But I know me. And I have faith. And I have skills.

Like I said before. Adversity propels you to make a decision. You can sit there in misery because you don’t think you deserve better, or you can take a chance and go for what you deserve. I choose not to wonder what would have happened if I had given my all.

I’m going to go for mine right now.

Let’s see what happens.

No one ever got what where they wanted to be without taking a risk.

Love,Ms. Tee

Kim’s Blessed Life

This past weekend my friend Kim came into town. She called me on Thursday saying that she was driving down from Atlanta because her mother was in the hospital with heart problems.

“Girl, your Mama got heartburn. Ain’t nothing wrong with her. She’ll be out of the hospital in a day. You’ll see.”

Kim laughed and made plans to make her way down here with a brief stop in Gainesville to pick up her Grandmother. Now Kim has been going through financial hardships ever since the month of July reared its head, but her hardships were a bit different from mine or Brenda’s although you couldn’t tell by the way she was freaking out.

On more than one occasion I had to remind her, “Kim, your bills are paid. You just moved out of that expensive apartment as you make your transition back to Chicago and although you don’t have an abundance, your needs are met. You still get your hair done every week and your Beemer is nice and shiny.”

“I know Dawg, I just…I just need a miracle. The Lord is on His way, I know it. I need to take this evening and spend time with my Daddy because I need a breakthrough and I know He can deliver.”

“Aiight Dawg, do your thang.”

Kim managed to make it all the way from Georgia to Miami without telling her Grandma that she was almost broke and when she got here she immediately got her hair done and thought about her situation. “Who can I call?” she asked herself. She needed a few coins to survive this trip. “I know, I’ll call my Daddy.”

After Kim spent time with her Daddy she called me to tell me all about it.
“Girrrrllll….We had such a wonderful time. I spent practically the whole day with my Daddy and we hadn’t done that since I was a little girl. We went downtown and did a little shopping and he shocked me by doing what he always did when we used to hang out, he took me to the Catholic church and prayed to Mary. It was so wonderful being with him again. He held my hand as we walked down the street. He spoke to me so lovingly and it was as if I was his princess and he wanted to show me off to everyone he knew,”

“Wow,” I remarked. “Go on.”

“Girl, I believe God sent him this weekend to show me how a woman is supposed to be treated. And I think God wanted to remind me that even though my earthly father treats me like a jewel, He loves me even more and can do so much better. Girl, you know I don’t agree with a lot of the decisions that my parents made over the years and all but…I am grateful that they treat me like they do. They always speak to me with the utmost respect and encouragement. It’s as if they admire me and they NEVER talk down to me. Some people never experience that.”

As I sat there listening I began to think about my own experience with my parents and then my thoughts turned to my friends who treat me in the same way. I’m grateful for that.

Being the moody, anti social person that I am, I encouraged Kim to make sure she saw all of her family and not to worry about seeing me since we speak to each other many times during the day.

On Sunday night I needed to ask her a question so I got in touch with her late and she said, “Good, I’m glad you’re still up. I’m coming over.”

Damn.

~smile~

I wasn’t really in the mood to entertain anyone but hey..it’s my girl, I can’t turn her away.

Kim came through and as usual we sat and discussed our current situations and reflected on how God brought us through in the past. Before I knew it I grabbed her and we sat in my room and had fun discussing our hopes for the listeners of my fledgling podcast.

I watched her drive away in her brand new Beemer and I couldn’t help but cry. MsKima, the princess always gets what she wants. It’s as if she’s God’s princess too. She has her heart set on moving back to Chicago and even though her finances are in ruins due to heavy taxing of her supposedly “free” classes as she pursues her MBA, Kim knows she will have the desires of her heart.

By the time she made it back to Atlanta she could barely contain herself, calling me telling me that her miracle has come.

“Hollup,” I say and wrap myself in my blanket as I sit cross legged on the couch. “Ok, go.”

“Girlll….when I got back to Atlanta, my uncle reminded me that there was a letter for me. I opened it and girl it was a check.. Guess how much it was for?”

“Girl…How much?”

“Girl.. the check was for over $2500!”

I went numb.

“Stop playin…”

“I’m not playin girl… And guess what? I’m going to use that money to move back to Chicago. I’m not gonna waste a penny of it on anything else. God is good!”

The thing I love most about my interactions with Kimberly is the fact that she expects nothing less than the best from anyone around her and she settles for nothing less than the best from life.

I admire that quality and I wish I could become like that too. Maybe if I continue to surround myself with upstanding people who are handling business and prospering…some of that will rub off on me!

CONGRATS KIM!

Just Another Miracle

My blessing came today along with a wonderful lesson learned. I was too choked up to write about it so I had to speak on it.

Pardon the tears of joy.

God is good!

Listen to my testimony NOW on my Podcast.

On A Friday Night

Ain’t This Some Sh**!

Why am I on yahoo music trying to listen to some music which I rarely do and all that is playing is that sucky sucky R&B? Aughh!

Who the hell likes R&B anyway? It’s all about crying and whining over some painful romantic situation or begging someone to treat you better. DAMMIT! I get enough of that in my own life I don’t wanna hear that in my leisure time.

That’s honestly why I never particularly liked Mary J. Blige. I mean, I liked one or two of her old songs but damn…she was always ‘Going Down’ over some man and damn that’s depressing that we celebrate the pain in relationships.

Now I understand that these songs capture the essence of the reality of relationships but I believe that listening to this crap makes us feel that all of this pain is SUPPOSED to be a part of relationships.

Break up to make up

He’s mine, you may done had him once but I have him all the time

I keep on fallin in and out of love, with you

So, you’re home alone on a Friday night and you’re listening to this crap and trying not to think about the fact that you are home alone and would rather be doing anything than chatting with this lonely other person on the internet but hey…it’s your only option so you have to entertain this crap, that or either go buy a fifth of Henn and dance to Kanye in your underwear.

~checking bank account~

Can’t afford the Henn so I’ll probably end up analyzing my life again. Oh no, not that! So I have to make some adjustments. I’m in this beautiful city and I don’t do anything but sit my behind in the house.

I miss my kids.

When they are away for the weekend I am happy for about two hours and then I realize that they are the reason I get out of bed at all.

So…what to do tonight? It’s 9:20.

I could get dressed and go out. Ofcourse there’s a spot to go to where I can relax a bit and people watch. But then I’d probably want a drink and if I’m driving then…that’s not a good idea. So, who can I call?

Damn…my anti social ass done pushed everyone away and even if people are getting together tonight they aren’t gonna invite ME cuz they know I don’t like social gatherings. Damn my moodiness!

Hmm..

What’s a chick to do?

Oh no…Troop is playing. All I Do Is Think Of You

I really don’t have anyone to think of though so this song is pointless. Wow. How is it that I have absolutely no one to associate these sad songs with? No one? Maybe I can conjure up an old ghost of a boyfriend?

~straining~

Oooh! Almost popped a blood vessel!

I remember when I first gave my life to the Lord. I used to take the songs to popular love songs and sing them to God.

Hey I’m in love with you
I think the world of you
So won’t you please be mine!
All I do is think of you
Day and Night
I can’t get you off my mind
Think about you ALL THE TIME
ALL THE TIME!!!

Yeah you an definately sing that to the Lord. Just not R. Kelly or someone like that. And that’s how I used to judge which songs were appropriate for me to listen to. If I can’t sing the lyrics to the Lord then it’s not right.

I miss my kids.

Funny how when they are here they get on my nerves always fighting and crying and bothering each other. But when they fall asleep…OOh. Sometimes I will go into their rooms and climb into bed with them for a few minutes each just to snuggle and feel the warmth of their bodies. Heavenly angels…and then they wake up in the morning and run to my room singing, “It’s Wake up time! Goodmorning!”

After that it’s all downhill.

He kicked me in my penis!

He poured his juice on my sandwhich!

He called me a liar!

He keeps copying me!

He won’t let me talk!

MAMA!

MAMA!

MAMA!

Sometimes I go hide under the covers and they have to find me because I can’t take hearing them whine another minute!

~shakes head~

My boys… Couldn’t function without them.

I wonder what young, hot, single women are doing tonight? Probably out being fabulous and being romantically wined and dined by eligible bachelors.

I wonder what married couples are doing tonight? Probably ordering chinese and watching a movie together snuggled up on the couch laughing and sipping wine as they feel each other up beneath the covers.

Pretty soon I’m sure one of my lonely friends will call me and we’ll talk about absolutely nothing but it will fill the night until we fall asleep.

Thank God for the internet though….

Let me get back to my writing for tonight…. I wonder if life ever gets better than this.

K.I.S.S. Guide to Understanding the Voting Rights Act
and it’s Importance This Year

Ignorance is NOT bliss. Ignorance is self sabotage. ~Ms. Tee

Join my friend Zoeboy and I as we attempt to discuss issues that affect the Black community and our world.

Tee says:
Ok so whats going on with the voting rights act thing? First of all.. What is the Voting Rights Act I keep hearing about? Explain it simply for me.

ZoeBoy says:
After the Cival Rights Act was passed, congress and President Johnson felt that the southern states would do all they can to keep blacks from voting. (Rember, Dr. King and others fought to the death for this key right). The southern states were passing laws saying that you had to pay a poll tax to vote, and that you had to be literate to an extent…all these laws were hinderances to many blacks.

ZoeBoy says:
So congress and President Johnson along with other Cival Rights leaders worked on and passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965. The act made many of those practices illegal, and also made provisions for states to draw boundries that would give blacks a chance to have their vote count.

Tee says:
Ok. So…………..

ZoeBoy says:
So…Blacks tend live in clusters, near other blacks, the Act made those clusters indivudual voting districts that could vote for their own representatives…

Tee says:
Ok….

ZoeBoy says:
Blacks tend to vote democratic, that’s not secret…it’s a problem for Republicans….if it wasn’t for the Voting Rights Act, Republicans would redraw voting districts to “drown” out the black vote. example: a black district of 50,000 blacks always vote democratic, but if you redrew their districts so that they were included in a 200,000 rebublican white district, it wouldn’t matter…If all 50,000 blacks voted democratically, they would be drowned out by all the republican votes.

ZoeBoy says:
Well recently…Southern state republicans tried to pass a bill to do away with the Voting Rights Act. They said it was no longer needed that they were unfairly targeted, and that things are different now. They said that the people should trust them not to redraw the districts unfairly.

ZoeBoy says:
Well the bill was given it’s last extenstion for 25 years by the president who warned that this would be the last time.

Tee says:
Ohh shit! For real?

ZoeBoy says:
yes

Tee says:
So that means that once the Act is removed then our voice will be drowned out?

ZoeBoy says:
It’s already happened. If any of your readers are from Texas (one of the states which under the Act, have to have permission to redraw districts), they probaly know about the recent victory in the supreme court over the districts they redrew that essentially eliminated an entire black district .

ZoeBoy says:
You know what was ironic about that, they don’t target hispanic voters, who are minorities also, because they vote republican too.

Tee says:
But as minorities who are most often not inclined to vote anyway, I have to ask, will the dissolution of this act really make a difference or is it a smokescreen to make us feel like we have a voice when we really don’t?

ZoeBoy says:
Yes the black vote does count!

ZoeBoy says:
Think about it in a black district if 1% of the people vote, they still voted that 1% still gets to elect their own representative. I don’t care if 1 single black votes…that vote counts for that district…does that make sense?

Tee says:
Yes it does. So tell me, what is the current situation with the districts?

ZoeBoy says:
excellent question!

ZoeBoy says:
The issue is the November elections coming up which will proceed the next Presidential elections. Republicans know that they don’t look good right now with all these scandals and war problems…it’s a boost for democrats. If they lose a district to the democrats, then it WILL affect the vote for the presidency next year. They’re getting ready for battle, and trying every underhand scheme to win. The fact they tried to do away with the Voting Rights act is unbelievable!

ZoeBoy says:
And what’s even worse is that the President gave us an insight into what to expect…that in another 25 years, this Act will be revisited.

Tee says:
Damn… What can we do about it?

ZoeBoy says:
Vote gottdamit! I don’t care if you vote republican, democrat, independant…just vote.

ZoeBoy says:
There are law makers who feel that if you have to take a casualty it has to be with the black vote, cause they don’t vote anyway…

ZoeBoy says:
You can’t depend on them, you can take their voices away and you know what, they won’t even notice…blacks have to rely on other watch dogs to protect their interests… The republicans took that chance and lost but they won’t give up.

Tee says:
Why? Is it because they feel powerless to affect change and seek to remain ignorant rather than recognize their lack of power?

ZoeBoy says:
I’m not really sure, I know speaking as a proffessional, that the majority of blacks live at the poverty line in groups (innercities and ghettos) and because of that, everything around them has no value…nothing for them to be concerned about.

ZoeBoy says:
Example:
No property value in the hood, so the neighborhood schools can’t raise enough money to give it’s students a good education. Can’t get a loan for any damn thing, so you don’t have any assets or investments to be concerned about, because you make to little. Drug dealing everywhere…etc. All these downfalls are the exact reasons people vote for…they vote to keep these interests’ skewed to their favor.

Tee says:
Huh?

ZoeBoy says:
If there is nothing of value within sight of you, nothing that you have an economic interest in, you don’t really have a motivation to vote for actions concerning those things…cause it appears to not affect you.

Tee says:
Do you feel there’s any possible way to motivate those in that situation to change their minds about voting and if they do… can it really help?

ZoeBoy says:
The only way to motivate them is to give them a reason to vote, I don’t care if it’s just a ploy, make them see that it does work. You know what I would do? I would put a bill on the ballot that said if you lived in a high crime area like the ghetto, you would have to pay an additional $500 dollars in insurance, and if you didn’t pay you would get a boot on your car permanently.

ZoeBoy says:
That’ll motivate they ass to vote!

ZoeBoy says:
lol

Tee says:
lol

ZoeBoy says:
It wouldn’t be real of course, but I gaurantee a lot of the eligible voters would be standing at the voting poll 30min before it opened to cast their “hell fuck naw” vote

Tee says:
You are a mess. I can’t wait until you start your own blog. Until then… You’re always welcome here on Share My World- Miami

ZoeBoy says:
Peace in the hood!

The Crossroad

There’s an offer on the table for my boys and I to move to Atlanta.

The offer includes free rent for four months and a free ticket for all of us. My bestfriend who lives there has made this proposition and says it will remain open until November.

Moving to Atlanta would mean learning a new city and its culture. It would mean new schools for my sons and new possibilities for me. It seems like a dream come true…but…I have absolutely no desire to live in that city.

I never have.

The alternative would be to stay here and hope for a miracle.

Why would this door open if I wasn’t meant to walk through?

What do you do when your heart says stay, but your rational mind is telling you, “Baby, at least give it a try. Look at you. There’s nothing here for you. Nothing is working no matter what you do.”

But I have no desire……..

I don’t want to bounce from city to city with my boys. I want to give them a home. I want their home to be here in Miami.

Life is full of choices. I dont think it’s a matter making a right or wrong decision, I think it’s a matter of making the best of the decision you make.

~shrugs~

We’ll see.

No Guts No Glory

Car rented.

Clothes almost packed.

Saying Goodbye to our friends and family.

We hit the road tomorrow morning with a pit stop in Gainesville.

Let’s see what Atlanta has to offer.

Pray for our safe travel!

Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, this time more wisely.
– Anonymous