Women's Day March

After resting on MLK it was back to work.  We are still trying to adjust to the new changes and have been busy ever since.  The news media were covering the transition of the Obama administration to the president-elect Trump nonstop.  It was getting overwhelming.  I did not watch the inauguration that Friday.  I wanted to ignore everything that was happening.  My friend asked me Thursday night if I wanted to go with her and her friends to the Women’s March downtown on Saturday.  I declined.  I really wanted to sleep in late.

But after seeing the riots break out on the news after the inauguration, I felt completely helpless.  People were frustrated and I knew there must be another way to voice our opinions.  I called up my friend and told her I would go with them.

My mom was upset with me.  For some reason, she was not aware of what the march was really about.  She felt I might get into some type of trouble.  The news were covering the riots and it made her nervous.  She even hung up on me.  I was hurt, mostly because she never gave me the chance to explain myself.  Like I said, we have not always had the best relationship and this brought back memories of our difficult times together.  I had to let it go.

The next day I met up with my friend at the Blue line stop at Logan.  There were floods of people jumping on the trains.  I was moved.  It was comforting to know that people were coming together peacefully to march for women’s rights.  We got off at Jackson and walked over with the rest of our group down to Grant Park.  I felt empowered to be around so many parents with their little girls displaying their banners and waving them freely.  I WISHED my mom was with me!  Whether these little girls knew it or not, they were learning to speak up when it came to injustice.  What a wonderful lesson to learn! 

I will never forget this day.  It was a first for me, but it was something I felt I had to do to.  Feeling helpless dragged me down here, but it left me feeling hopeful.  We will be heard, whether you like it or not.  Freedom of speech at its finest!

Longest Month of the Year

I'm so happy January is over.  Not only does it feel like the longest month of the year, but the lack of sunlight makes it more depressing.  Now that we're in February, it's giving me a chance to reflect on some things I never knew was going on.
The hoopla of the holidays sometimes gets the best of us.  I was feeling drained at one point attending too many things at the same time.  Once Miami came out of nowhere, I was certain things were going to look up this year.  I felt happy and confident of the year ahead of us.
Now it's a different story. 
The first full week in January I was still recovering from my weekend getaway.  I started work that Tuesday, but by the time I reached the weekend, I just wanted to relax.  I caught up with a friend over sushi and told him about my trip.  It was nice recapping my moments with someone.
That 1st Sunday I was ready to start my week off at church.  Another friend of mine wanted to hear the details of my trip and we met up afterwards for brunch.  We talked about the transitions both our moms are facing being a widow.  My mom lost her husband almost 2 years ago, and his mom lost her husband last year.  It was interesting discussing their challenges.
Then it was back to work.  I felt confident starting the new week fully rested since I kept it low key over the weekend.  I didn't really notice anything different at work.  But then something didn't feel right.  Right before I left that day, I had an uneasy feeling.
The following day, there were major layoffs at my firm.  I had to excuse myself to go to the restroom to cry in the stalls.  I saw people who were my friends get escorted out.  Some employees have worked together for over 20 years.  It was one of the hardest days I had to deal with in a very long time.

For the rest of the week I cried every morning.  I couldn't wait until Friday.  I was going to have dinner with my family to celebrate my step brother's birthday.  I just wanted to be with my family.

By request he wanted to have dinner at Cortland’s Garage in the Bucktown neighborhood.  I was skeptical because my mother wanted to go and I think there was some confusion at first.  My older brother was under the impression we were going to a restaurant, but I knew better.  I was worried that if it was indeed a pub, it might be too noisy for my mom.  She has been recently diagnosed with having tinnitus and has a hard time hearing in loud environments.  Although she is losing her hearing, there is a constant buzzing in her eyes which amplifies when there is loud noise involved and it makes my mother very uncomfortable until the point it becomes painful for her.  I prayed I was wrong but like I said, I knew better.

We walked into the pub and they were playing rock music on their speaker system.  She insisted she was fine but I feel she was just saying that so we could continue along with the party.  Next time I warned my brothers that we have to be more considerate.  

Our step brother was glad we showed up, and then his family came once we were seated.  We had a good group going and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.  Then my mother started to express her feelings over the holidays.  How hard this year felt as oppose to last year.  How much she misses her husband.  I never realized how depressed she had been feeling up to this point.  She mentioned how this was the first year she didn’t put up a Christmas tree because of how difficult it’s been without him.  I felt defeated.

I knew right then and there, that there was nothing I could do to make her feel better.  All she wants is for her husband to be here and that is impossible.  The times I tried to take her out of the house and do different things did not make those feelings go away.  I sat speechless.

In the end, we loved our burgers and our step brother seemed happy we were celebrating with him.  For that night, that is what mattered the most.  As for the rest of the weekend, I stayed low key again.  I was pretty worn out with everything that was happening at work and with my mom.  Martin Luther King weekend was a moment for me to try to unwind.  And then Trump took office… 

I'm In MIAMI b*tch! Part 2

My friend jumped out of bed after 10am.  I was still out of it, but she told me the 3rd guy was going to come pick us up at 12pm.  I was not aware what was going on and having a few hours of sleep was not helping.  He had a friend that was staying with him at his place and was going to drive her to South Beach.  We were going to tag along.  My girl also wanted to play some volleyball while we were out in Miami, so she got her ball ready.  Our friend was pretty tired and opted not to go to the beach with us.  Oh well.  We tired.  We threw on our bikinis and threw on our swim cover ups and off we went!
Our new friend, 3rd guy was right on time.  We met his friend that was staying at his place.  She had celebrated the new year at a private party and was showing us pictures.  It was held at a mansion and looked pretty spectacular.  Since we were getting acquainted with one another I had a good feeling about our group.  So far, Miami was treating us nicely. 
The beach was wonderful considering it was January 1st.  It hit me that we escaped from the cold in Chicago and this was pretty surreal.  The temperature hit 80 degrees but again, the sun wasn't hitting hard.  Another cloudy day but no overcast.  We drove around in circles looking for parking but after 20 minutes our new friend suggested we wait for him at Pura Vida juice bar.  By this time we were getting dizzy since we left without having breakfast and I needed coffee terribly.  This place was packed already, so waiting in line there took just as long.  By the time our new friend joined us, we got a chance to place our orders.  I ordered a PB Energy acai bowl and it was delish!  It came with raw organic Brazilian acai blended with bananas and peanut butter and topped with strawberries, granola, berries and almonds.  I felt good having something so filling yet healthy.  

We had our breakfast outside and enjoyed our time there.  By now it was getting close to 2pm and we still hadn't hit the beach.  We were drained from the night before and couldn't wait to lay out on the sand.  We walked over and found a good spot, but our new friend wanted to knock out for a bit.  My friend got the itch to find a volleyball court, so we parted ways and I followed her.  We found the courts by the infamous Ocean Drive, right by where the hotel strips are at.  We found an empty net and my friend went up to a girl sitting on the beach watching the others play.  She asked if she wanted to play with her and she jumped at the chance.  It turns out she wanted to play too, but had no one to play with.  

Now with their new team they found 2 other to play against.  I laid out and watched their stuff for about an hour when I started to get fussy.  I wanted to walk around.  The last time I was in  Miami was almost 10 years ago and I wanted to see what changed.  I told my friends I would be back and I took my time looking around.  Miami definitely has a certain look to it, but now that I'm older, I had to pass up on some of the styles.  I miss being young.

South Beach has a lot of traffic too.  There are people cruising up and down Collins Avenue.  I made my way back to my friends where they were finishing up their last game.  This time, 3rd guy had met up with them, but his friend was missing in action.  She had gotten up to walk around herself.  Now it was a matter of trying to find her. 
We got back to his car, but apparently her phone had died at some point.  Now WE were cruising up and down Washington avenue, but I loved being on the strip.  Since it was now getting close to rush hour, more people were flooding the streets and the traffic was getting heavier.  We found her by Lincoln Avenue and we hopped back on the expy to head back to East Miami.  The traffic was awful.  It took us over 30 minutes to get back, and my friend knocked out on the drive there.  She had played for 2 hours straight, but since she never fully rested, couldn't help herself but fall asleep to the bumper to bumper traffic. 
We got back to East Miami and knew we had to eat something before we headed out.  There was a party going on at the The Deck starting at 8pm and we were already running behind.  We stopped by a plaza and had some grub before we got back and showered up.  Our friend was awake and we asked him if he was going to come with us.  Earlier he mentioned wanting to sleep because he wasn't feeling well from the night before.  He was interested in The Deck and got ready quickly.  We weren't ready yet and he told us to meet him at the Blue Martini down the street.  He was in the mood to get a head start. 
We walked over to the Blue Martini and knew right away we were going to have another confrontation with our friend.  He was just getting too comfortable at the bar again.  It took us a while to have him close out his tab, but we made some new friends at the process.  Now that our group got a little bigger, we were excited about starting our evening.  We took a uber and finally got to the The Deck after 10:30pm.  Later than expected, but thankfully we made it.  The place was awesome!  Everyone was feeling the live music along with a dj on stage.  People were dancing everywhere.  We found our friends from earlier, and then our new volleyball friends made it in as well.  I loved how everyone was coming together to have a fun night.  We even ran into Tyson Beckford mingling in the crowd.  It was such a Miami moment.  lol.

Around midnight the crowd started to dwindle down.  We decided to check out the Wall at the W hotel and hopped on ubers to get there.  We got there when it was going on and ended up staying the rest of the night.  I had a blast dancing the night away.  I loved our group.  Good times for sure.

Heading back we realized we still had to purchase our flights back home.  Because of our crazy night, we woke around 12pm and for the next 2 hours were searching frantically for flights.  It was such a frustrating experience but we found one leaving at 3pm and left for the airport shortly.  I felt bad not being able to say bye to everyone but I did manage to send out a text.  I wish we could have stayed longer but then, again, what if we never leave??  lol