On the Way to Becoming Me

July has been an especially busy month for me and my family.  Between work, summer camps, football workouts, family reunions, sorority reunions and other impromptu events, downtime has been a welcome addition to our schedule.  Honestly, it seems like summer just started!  It's hard to believe that we're gearing up for yet another school year. Being a teacher, summer break takes on a whole different meaning; whereas, if I were just donning my mommy hat, I'd be totally elated that school is almost in session (just keepin' it real).  But, for real, I almost shriek in horror when I see back to school commercials on T.V., and the store displays seem to be taunting me as a constant reminder that time is winding up. Before I can say farewell to the "summer of reunions," I have one more gathering to attend.  My 20 year class reunion!  It's crazy that it's been 20 years since I graduated from high school.  With the reunion approaching next week, I can't

A couple of months ago, I wrote a post titled "My Love Affair with Winter."  Perhaps you read it, but if not check it out at some point.  It was my first post, and I think it was pretty good (if I do say so myself).  Anywho, in that post I used winter as a metaphor for the challenging times that we all face at some point or other our lives.  In this post, I want to reflect on something that you don't think will ever come when in the depths of winter....spring. Recently I was listening to my all-time favorite album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill," and even though I've heard EVERY song about a gazillion times, one lyric in particular resonated with me on this particular day.  On the track, "Everything is Everything," L-Boogie spits out encouragement to listeners by simply saying, "after winter MUST come spring, change it comes eventually."  Wow! Did you take that in?  I mean, did you really let it seep deep down in your spirit?  You