Reconnecting in the Gator Nation
I had a peaceful day yesterday…
Well sort of…Since I’ve decided to try NOT to be so GRRRRR at my job, (per a request from my director) I don’t really know what to do with all of the ideas that pop into my head on a consistent basis.
Yesterday alone, I came up with 3 different ideas for feature pages for the website that would keep readers coming back CONSISTENTLY and I came up with an idea for a reality show AND another book idea. ~sigh~
I should open a store with a sign that reads: IDEAS FOR SALE.
I never run out of ideas for everything. They come quick, hard and I can always follow up with a plan to implement them. ~sigh~
That’s why I like my friend Kenya’s idea of becoming a Professional Muse. She is sooo talented. That chick is a stellar fashion designer, she’s an excellent creative and professional writer, she’s a fashionista, she’s a graphic artist too. People come alive when she’s around them. She’s just a BEAST and I can’t wait to see how we are going to make money together.
When we’re on the phone we love to fantasize about our brilliant future together. We feed each other encouraging words and I laugh because her fantasy is of us hanging out on one of her boats, she says I will be wearing orange and she’ll be wearing blue (Or vice versa, I can’t remember) and we’ll be discussing what’s the next thing we can do to change the world. ~cheese~
With my friends, it’s all about making an impact on the WORLD. I love’em!
Yesterday I had a special treat because my friend from college visited me.
I couldn’t help but giggle when I saw his facebook request to add him as a friend.
I went to his page and saw that he was at Northwestern. I hit him up and said hi, asking him if he had a girlfriend, cuz I wanted to set him up with Kim since she’s in Chicago too.
He hit me back saying that YES he has a girlfriend but he could be friends with Kim.. By the way, I’m in Dallas now visiting my parents let’s meet up.
So ofcourse I was excited because I HAVE NO FRIENDS HERE! LOL!
I gave him directions to my job and it was like… so good to see him!
Tommy.
I remember Tommy. My friend Tonya had a crush on him and it was justified because Tommy was my age, SUPER SMART and a genuinely good person. He had the most interesting group of friends and I got to know them because one of his friends was my friend and since we went to a HUGE predominately white college, all of the Black people on campus got to know each other very well.
So my FAVORITE memory of me and Tommy always makes me laugh.
It was our sophomore year of college. It was late at night. It was me, my (future) sorority sister Nikki, Tommy and 3 of his friends. We were in Beaty Towers. I don’t remember who’s dorm room it was but we were playing strip tunk PLUS making the losers take shots.
So I’ll never forget it, Tommy was NAKED like Tyrese in Baby Boy, on the floor of the bathroom throwing up everywhere. AND my girl Nikki was so sweet. She cleaned up his throw up. Ughh…. And we put him in the bed! LOL!
College was fun…..
So when he pulled up to my office building we both grinned, remembering that night. I gave him a big hug and I showed him the studio where the Radio Man does the show.
As we walked toward the elevators to go upstairs to my office I whispered, “Now I don’t think I can introduce you to too many people because I still haven’t learned their names. It’s an office but the cool thing about it is the artwork. Sometimes I just walk around like I’m in a museum, we have great pieces.”
So we walked all around the office as he asked me questions. As we left the building to go get something to eat, he asked me, “So how did you end up in Dallas?”
“That’s quite a story,” I warned him.
“Well, I want to know.”
So I told him about losing my job in Miami and how Tamara invited me to move to Atlanta and I left my boys with their daddy and then how the editor of the magazine there fired me and how I took a chance and moved to Houston for an opportunity to learn about starting my own business and the guy I was supposed to work for never made good on his promise. I told him about struggling there and working at a restaurant, working as a nanny, living with strangers and sleeping in my car while I worked as a reporter for a local newspaper. Then I told him about meeting The Prez and how I looked at his company website and saw the ad for this job….
“What a story!”
“I know!”I laughed.
When we got to the restaurant we were both still on fire.
“I’ve been bragging about you!” he told me.
“Man…I’ve been bragging about YOU!” I told him. “How was Northwestern?”
“I’m still there. I have one more semester and I’ll be done with my PhD in Engineering.”
“Are you working?”
“Yeah. I work in a lab and we do research.”
“Can you explain to me what it is you do in the lab?”
“We study granular *something*.” I kinda figured it out but I don’t know. He also mentioned that he was in the lab studying metabolism something or other. He’s so damn smart!
By the time we were seated I asked him, “So tell me about this girlfriend you have. Cuz I got a friend for you, and I bet your girl is not as cute as my friend!”
“Wanna bet?” he replied and smiled. “I shoulda brought a picture.”
“Aww… It’s like that?”
“Yeah.. Actually we broke up but I still want to get back with her even though I broke up with her.”
“Why’d you do that dummy?”
“Cuz… I met her at Northwestern, she got a masters in Theatre and then she moved and now she’s trying to move to LA and I’m not good at the long distance thing. I’m miserable.”
“I can understand that.”
“So what about you? Are you seeing anyone.”
I rolled my eyes. “Only in my imagination.”
“When was the last time you dated someone?”
I shrugged. “My Baby Daddy. That was almost 6 years ago. I was raising kids remember. I mean.. I have had secks since then. Just no one regular. Well.. last year I had someone on the regular for about 4 months but then I left Miami and that was that.”
“You haven’t met anyone out here?”
I rolled my eyes. “Hell no! I don’t like to meet guys in the street. That’s so common. In my imagination I always wanted to meet a man while I’m working and in pursuit of my destiny. I figured that he would admire me for my work ethic and envision a plan for how he can help me grow so that we can make money together. I hate meeting men who try to ask me out based on the fact that I’m cute. I learned from my Baby Daddy that being cute doesn’t make him respect you. I want someone who respects my mind and sees my potential and my Baby Daddy told me he didn’t even think I was smart.”
“It’s funny that you say that you imagined that you would meet someone in a certain way because I always imagined that when I meet the woman I was supposed to be with, that I’ll see her and I’ll KNOW. And I’ll think to myself, ‘I HAVE to have her!'”
“Well, if you have a relationship with God and that expectation has always been on your heart, then that’s probably how it will happen.”
“But that never happens…”
“Because it’s only going to happen ONE TIME Tommy! Until it happens you should chill on the dating thing. You’re wasting your time.”
“One time? But what about my girl? We met and were friends for a long time, then we started dating and she’s really nice. She could make me happy…”
“Yeah, I don’t doubt that she could make you happy. Ya’ll could have a long life together, but if she’s not the one God spoke into your spirit about and you marry her anyway, imagine how you’re gonna feel when you’re out with your wife and THE ONE walks by and you lock eyes.”
“Awww..” he shuddered.
“Sometimes you have to give up something good at the wrong time, for God’s best at the right time.”
“That’s easy for you to say. My brain doesn’t work like yours. You’re a risk taker. I would never quit a job unless I had another one lined up.”
“Well..God takes good care of me and what I’ve learned this entire time is that God wants me to be happy and He provides for me. I don’t owe anyone’s job anything. God took care of me even when I wasn’t working. He protected me. Now it’s just me and Him in this city. I don’t have anyone else to spend time with..”
“Except for your imaginary boyfriends…”
I laughed. “Yeah, except for them. One of them in Kanye and the other you met today.”
“Who?”
I frowned. “The man you met in the hall. He introduced himself.”
“Is that the Radio Man’s son?”
“Yeah.”
“Did he go to (insert name of school here)?”
“Yeah.” I shrugged.
Tommy laughed. “That’s funny. So do you think he could be the one?”
I sighed. “I don’t know. HE ain’t paying me ANY attention at all. All I know is…you know how in your mind you have a flash of how something is supposed to be? Well, when I get that flash of how I wanted my husband to be and to present himself, it matches up with him. He’s kinda nerdy, which I love. And he’s smart too. But like I said, it’s all in my imagination cuz he ain’t paying me no kind of attention. We’ll see.”
“I can’t believe we’re here man. We’re all grown up.”
“Yeah.. who would have thought we’d meet up like this again.”
“Do you like it here?”
“Dallas?” I sighed. “Yeah. And it’s crazy because there is no real reason why I should like it here because I don’t hang out with anybody and I love my job but I’m not sure if it’s the perfect fit yet. I just…have this weird feeling about this city. I think it’s beautiful and I feel happy when I’m driving around by myself. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s really nice and quiet here. I haven’t seen ONE bad neighborhood yet, although I haven’t found the ‘hood’ so I can’t really speak on that part.”
“You haven’t seen the ‘hood’?”
“How could I? I hear it’s in the South. Something called Oak Cliff. I never got to see the hood in Atlanta either because I didn’t know anyone who lived there.”
“You gotta go check it out. I have already seen it. My Dad works in inspections and that’s the first thing he does when he goes to any city, he finds the hood and becomes familiar with it.”
“Man..it’s so good to see a familiar face Tommy! It means so much to me to be around someone who is not with me cuz I’m pretty or to see what my talent can do to benefit them. I feel so relaxed.”
“But you are though…”
“What?”
“Pretty…”
“Shut up. Don’t make me go off on you. I am so much more than that.”
We walked back to the office and I gave him a hug and told him to enjoy the rest of his vacation here.
“I’m gonna take you out when you get to Chicago,” he promised me. “We’ll do it big.”
“Yeah.. And you can meet Kim! Ya’ll should be friends.”
He laughed. “I’ll take both of ya’ll out then…”
“Bet… Bye Tommy.”
A fellow GATOR… It’s great to be a Florida GATOR!