Back To Good
This weekend I went to SC to visit a friend & attend the wedding of an old friend of mine from college. The friend I visited (another pink hat from my old red hat society chapter) is preparing for a marathon in memory of her brother (he died from leukemia). She's been training pretty steadily for the last year, but I managed to derail her in my under 36 hour stay. With hints of NO in our activities, we ate lots of good southern cooking, stayed out too late, drank too much, & smoked too many cigarettes. Overall, the best part was being together & having time to talk.
We caught up on my new life in IA which helped me temporarily forget about my nephew (my sister kicked him out last week when she found a bong he'd ordered online so he could smoke more weed that she didn't know he'd been smoking). She shared her reluctance to continue working for our company since she's not sure she'll ever be able to move to corporate. I continued my teachings on black culture in America, including not to be stressed out about arriving on time for a black wedding (they were 30 minutes late & she was surprised...funny!). As we spent time visiting with one another in Charleston & Columbia I noticed the landscape & lighting & felt pangs as I realized I'm going to miss living in the south.
Spending time visiting her in her lily white surroundings & seeing how lily white her life is, I felt refreshed to be around a normal southern woman. She isn't like the women from NO who chase men & give up cookies too much. She isn't like the overly scared black women from NO who as Baptists think that dancing is a sin. She isn't like some of the white women I know who drink too much to manage their frustrations & anxieties. And she isn't like the other 20 something women I know who giggle too much & put other people down. She is a reflection of what my life would've been like if I'd had the opportunities she had...and I admire her for who she is.
With that, I'm commited to getting my life back to good. No more negative friends. No more disrespectful partners. No more chronological adults. I'm ready to transition to a calm adulthood with a more serene landscape as the foundation. And I'm definitely going to stay in touch with her so I can have a beacon to focus on when I feel like going back.
We caught up on my new life in IA which helped me temporarily forget about my nephew (my sister kicked him out last week when she found a bong he'd ordered online so he could smoke more weed that she didn't know he'd been smoking). She shared her reluctance to continue working for our company since she's not sure she'll ever be able to move to corporate. I continued my teachings on black culture in America, including not to be stressed out about arriving on time for a black wedding (they were 30 minutes late & she was surprised...funny!). As we spent time visiting with one another in Charleston & Columbia I noticed the landscape & lighting & felt pangs as I realized I'm going to miss living in the south.
Spending time visiting her in her lily white surroundings & seeing how lily white her life is, I felt refreshed to be around a normal southern woman. She isn't like the women from NO who chase men & give up cookies too much. She isn't like the overly scared black women from NO who as Baptists think that dancing is a sin. She isn't like some of the white women I know who drink too much to manage their frustrations & anxieties. And she isn't like the other 20 something women I know who giggle too much & put other people down. She is a reflection of what my life would've been like if I'd had the opportunities she had...and I admire her for who she is.
With that, I'm commited to getting my life back to good. No more negative friends. No more disrespectful partners. No more chronological adults. I'm ready to transition to a calm adulthood with a more serene landscape as the foundation. And I'm definitely going to stay in touch with her so I can have a beacon to focus on when I feel like going back.
posted by N'j at 6:54 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home