Honoring... by Living!

I'm back at work. Today was my first day back. While I was on my hiatus, I realized a few things. I realized how short time can be. I realized that I need to begin my life as I want it. It's up to me to change my life. Yesterday I walked in CC's (my old store), and one of my old customers saw me. I hadn't seen her since Katrina. We exchanged pleasantries. She asked about schoool. I told her I finished at Dillard in 2005. Then she asked about graduate school. I got uneasy. She told me all of the upsides to it. I listened. Actually, she told me that I better get back in school next fall. I thought about it.

I'm still thinking about it. I know there's a life I want, and there's a life I'm living. Those two are not the same. I am moving toward what I want. I have to move toward it. I have to understand that I'm the only one who can change my situation. My happiness. My joy lives within me. It's up to me to do this. I need to move forward and get what's rightfully mine, the life I was born to live. I feel it within me. I know it is. I cannot be afraid of failure. Failure cannot hold me captive in a life of normalcy, for I am remarkable, and my life should be regarded as such. I cannot. I will not accept anything less.

One step at a time. That's all I need is one step at a time. I have to understand that baby steps count, too. When it's too hard, I have to lean on my Higher Power. When I don't think I can go any longer, I have to know that I am strong, for I am made in God's image. There's nothing weak about God. There's nothing weak about Anisa Kenyatta Parks. Nothing! There's nothing weak about Booker T. Washington. W. E. B. DuBois. Harriet Tubman. Frederick Douglass. Marcus Garvey. Martin Luther King, Jr. Coretta Scott King. Malcolm X. Betty Shabazz. Sidney Poitier. Nikki Giovanni. Angela Davis. Assata Shakur. The Black Panthers. Bill and Camille Cosby. Dr. Benjamin Carson. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson. Colin Powell. Oprah Winfrey. Tyler Perry. Barack and Michelle Obama. I can go on forever. But there's nothing weak about my grandparents, James and Ella Williams and the seven children they birthed. My mother, Gaynell Williams. My brother, Amir J. Williams. In the words of Antwon Fisher, "I'm still standing. I'm strong." I had many footsteps to follow. I appreciate and honor them as I continue this journey to redemption.