Deep Breaths

After all of that drama my sister says that she will take him back when he is ready to come home. Her church family advises forgiveness. ~raises eyebrow~

I guess…

I had to shake off the bad vibes from my conversation with my sister and move forward with my plans for the day. Since I had the interview with the restaurant on Monday morning I decided that Sunday would be my last day living with Nancy. Although my official last day as a nanny was supposed to be on Monday I decided to spend Sunday afternoon exploring downtown Houston and spend the night at the hostel once so I wouldn’t have to travel so far to get to my 8:30 am interview.

I got dressed and told Nancy I would be leaving. As I packed my clothes back into my car I slowed my pace in amazement of the life I am now living. It’s been 6 months since I left Miami on my way to Atlanta to see if things would work out. They did work out, I had a great time, had fun with my friends and worked for a company that I loved doing what I always wanted to do working at a magazine.

Then that opportunity ended and I decided to craft my vision for my non profit and go for it by moving to Houston on a prayer. All of my prayers have been answered so far. What does that scripture say? Exceedingly and abundantly above all that you could ever ask or hope for. Well, that’s how I feel right now. I feel God’s hand over my life and He has touched so many hearts that have become joined to my vision for my life and want to be a part of it by encouraging and supporting me.

I walked back into Nancy’s five bedroom split level home in beautiful Cinco Ranch and found Nancy standing at the door holding her 2 year old son, Junior in her arms. His face was buried in her neck.

“What’s up Boo Boo?” I asked him.

“He was crying because he thought you had left without him giving you the picture he drew for you.”

Junior climbs down and walks over to me. I kneel and ruffle his blonde curls. “Why are you acting like that?” I ask him softly. “I’m not going far. Just down the way. I’ll be back to play with you.”

He smiles at gives me a hug and we walk into the kitchen where his big sister Christina is drawing at the kitchen table. “This is for you,” she says sweetly and hands me a picture of a heart with her name on it.

I sit down with them and select a crayon. I draw a house as best as I can and put all of our names on it. Christina stands on her chair and gives me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I reach over and tickle Junior who smiles and runs behind his Mom’s leg.

I look back one last time before I close the door. Both children are watching me leave, their blue eyes brimming with tears. I shake my head and move on.

What an experience.

I say a prayer before I start my car. Only God knows what is going to happen to me next. I start out toward the hostel in the Museum District. When I get there, the front desk is closed so I can’t check in. I sit outside and chat on the phone for a while, enjoying the beautiful Texas weather.

“Wow, I’m a lady of leisure,” I thought to myself as I soaked in the sun and decided that I’d hit up the internet cafe for a couple of hours to surf the net and chat a bit. The cafe wasn’t full when I got there so i quickly grabbed a table in the corner, ordered some buffalo wings and blue cheese and connected to the wi- fi.

A quick glance at the time on my monitor made me wince. I had one hour and a hald to find the directions to a dance club called The Wild Wild West on Richmond. One of my Houston readers invited me and I wanted to show my face. He informed me that they would have dance lessons AND a dinner buffet all for $3 on Sunday evening. That’s what’s up!

Once I got the directions I decided to change my clothes so I went to my trunk, pulled out an extra set of clothes and took my makeup box, clothes and bathroom caddy into the restroom at the internet cafe. I spread my items out on the sink base and I transformed myself just as if I was at home.

I walked out looking great and feeling like I’m the star in a grand adventure. Who washes up and gets dressed in a public restroom? WORLD ADVENTURERS DO!

I gave myself plenty of time to get lost but I found the place rather quickly so I sat in the parking lot and talked to Ruby until I noticed other people driving up.

Once inside I couldn’t believe my eyes. This was an older crowd of dancers, all eager to get their swirl on. I didn’t know exactly what kind of dancing I was going to be doing but from the looks of the cowboy boots and flaring skirts that the women wore, I assumed it was goingt o be square dancing. I shook my head in amazement as everyone walked out onto the dance floor. I had to be the youngest person there. And I was the only Black person in the entire club.

The dance instructor introduced himself and his co instructor. “Tonight we’re going to introduce you to the Night Club Two Step,” he announced.

The what?

For the next hour and a half all 50 of us twirled around the dance floor. Slow, quick, quick, slow…

Everyone formed a circle around the instructors in the middle and every 5 minutes we were told, “Ladies move to your right.” So all of the ladies had to rotate partners.

“Hi, I’m Ms. Tee,” I introduced myself to a middle aged white man with a goatee.

“Hi, I’m Dan.”

“Hi, I’m Ms. Tee,” I had to say again, every five minutes.

“Hi, I’m John. Nice to meet you.”

I laughed and I danced. My legs hurt after all of that twirling and counting.

By the time we were done and they actually played music I was too pooped to participate. I sat on the sidelines waiting for the buffet to start. And it was GOOD! They had fajitas and something called Frito Casserole or something like that. It had fritos and beans and rice in it. I didn’t like it. I don’t like beans and rice.

I mingled for a while as I was introduced to all of the reader’s friends. After that I headed back to the hostel, checked in and ironed my pants for the next day.

I settled down for a great night’s rest after calling JB and telling him I was sorry for taking out my frustrations with men on him.

He didn’t say much, but he forgave me and I’m glad. I appreciate him for seeing through my meanness and understanding my issue with men. He’s patient with me and I love that. I think I’ll keep him around. He calls me MEANY. I call him BUFFOON because of the stark contrast of his personality to the one I witnessed when we worked together. He was all about business then, now…he’s such a joker that I don’t even know how to take it.

After chatting with him on the porch of the hostel, I plugged in my cell phone and went to sleep. Mmmm… The hostel’s bottom bunk was so warm and comfy. This time, the hostel was filled with students from China who were in town to explore the Space Center. The bathroom was filled with all kinds of products with foreign symbols and names. I touched a tube of toothpaste and tried to read it. There’s a whole other world out there you guys. The United States is only ONE country in a vast array of land masses and there is an array of cultures and customs that we have no clue about. I’d love to see more of them.

The next morning I woke up at 5am and couldn’t go back to sleep so I called Kim. She and I hadn’t had a chance to really talk in a minute so we enjoyed each other’s company through the phone lines until people started waking up and I decided to get a quick shower before the line started.

I showered and dressed, once again, in my purple turtle neck sweater. I love that sweater! I wear it at least 4 times a week! LOL! It’s comfy and it’s warm and I look great in it so…

I overestimated the time it would take for me to get to the restaurant. I was actually an hour early for my interview.~smile~ Talk about krunk!

I sat in my car and read my Prayer of Jabez devotional. I hadn’t picked up that book in a while but while rummaging through my things I spotted it and wanted to refresh my memory on it’s principle. The thing that stood out to me was the 2nd half of the prayer.