Friendships

I was thinking about my friendships the other day and I’ve noticed that some people have entered my life for a brief moment in time, some friends I’ve had to walk away from, and others have lingered but our relationships have changed a bit because of numerous reasons (e.g. moved away, got married) Whatever the case may be, I realized that with every new friendship I was faced with the opportunity to learn something new about someone and to build a bond with them. Some friends you speak to everyday, others you text back and forth, or you may find yourself meeting up with a friend only once or twice a year even though you live in the same city!! lol

So I thought about my friends of the past, and present just wondering how they all began. What did I see in them that made me want to be friends? What did I do to get things started? If you could tell me the secret to developing a friendship with someone what would those steps be?

Thanks for Reading!

If You Could Stop Time.......

Vanessa stepped off the plane into Miami International Airport beyond excited! It was her first trip to South Beach and she couldn’t wait to shop, take in the scenery, hangout at the beach (not in the water cause she can’t swim lol) and dance dance dance her way as she enjoyed the nightlife. Her girlfriend Trisha and Trisha’s bestfriend Damon were ready for their four day vacation. Everything was amazing! The hotel, the palm trees, even the hot summer blazing heat was inviting. Nothing….I mean nothing could go wrong during this fun filled getaway. Or so she thought!

On their second day of bliss something happened that made Vanessa wish that she could stop time and find a way to erase everyone’s memories. Something that she wished for just one moment she could roll up into a tiny ball and hide under a rock. What could possibly make her feel this way you ask?? Well then picture this…..

Vanessa, Trisha and Damon were all dressed and ready to go to the beach. Vanessa is not a big fan of the beach because she’s afraid of drowning in the ocean! Homegirl cannot swim and having 10 lessons at the YMCA wouldn’t let that water get past her ankles! Vanessa was also not excited about wearing the bathing suit she had on. You see she was a bit self conscious about being in a bathing suit but she really didn’t have a choice. They chilled on the blanket for a while and talked about life lol well mostly about how lucky they were because they had escaped the hustle and bustle of the NYC metro area where they were from.

Trisha and Damon were DYING to get into the water and somehow coaxed Vanessa into getting her ankles wet! Lol When she got into the water she was terrified! Trisha and Damon were coaxing her into moving deeper and deeper into the ocean where she found herself submerged up to her waist. Vanessa started to feel confident, secure, and fearless!!! She was diving into the waves and she was having a great time…until she came up from one huge wave that seemed to have caused her to lose her footing…however she caught herself and didn’t fall…she stood up and looked around for her friends as they looked to see if she was ok.

Damon looked at her and Vanessa smiled and said

“I’m ok but that was pretty scary!”

He say’s “No it’s not that, um Vanessa you top came off a bit…”

Vanessa looks down and that’s when the world stopped for a second too long. There….in that moment she had wished she could roll up into a tiny ball and hide under a rock…. Her boob had made it’s grand appearance and Damon had to be the person to point it out to her!

HOW EMBARRASSING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After that incident she couldn’t help but think “I should have never gone into that WATER!!!!”

I hoped you enjoyed reading that story because it was in fact a true story! Vanessa’s true identity was in fact yours truly when I went to Maimi at 23yrs old….lol Now it has become a distant running joke that I laugh about now !

Have you had any moments when you’ve felt so embarrassed you wanted to stop time?? DO TELL US about it!!!!

Thanks for Reading!!!

Are You Getting Yourself Prepared..?

….Hey….it’s me…I was thinking…Oh I’m sorry…Here’s an invitation to what I’ve been wondering about lately……Welcome to my thoughts…..I was looking back at my life and to be quite honest I’ve been blessed…I have accomplished most of what I wanted at stage in my life. I got an education; I have a career that I love, and a great place to work... I’m healthy, my family is with me and I have friends…

I was thinking about how I got it all… What did I do….for the most part I realized that I prayed and then got myself prepared for each step I took. When I finished HS I knew I wanted to go to college so I got prepared and made a list of schools I wanted then applied. When I went to class, I learned the material and went home to go back over everything so that I’d be prepared for the exams. I got myself ready, I studied, I researched what I didn’t really know or understand.. right….Well lets keep going…I promise you that I’m getting somewhere with this……I knew I wanted to buy a car someday but first I needed to drive!! I needed to get ready to get on the road before I could officially call myself a driver….I take continuing education courses to make sure that I’m on top of my game to better serve my clients…I start looking up all the information I need in order to invest my money so I could get ready for retirement…

The more I thought about it…the more I realized that I did something to prepare myself for the unknown…for college…for those exams…for that road test...for my monetary investments…. So then I started to wonder…I wondered about the other things I’d like to see happen in my future…marriage…kids…however I began to realize when it comes to something as big as marriage that people aren’t getting themselves prepared….Something that will affect the rest of your life…Something so complicated as falling in love…. Now I used the word complicated because it’s just that…Love and developing a relationship is hard work….Marriage is about two people becoming one…Have you ever wondered about what it would be like to take a course on marriage before you jumped the broom. I know you can’t know everything…but maybe just maybe you could do some research, speak to a few married or divorce couples just to get some insight about the idea of happily ever after (if that is even at all possible cause living in today’s age is no fairytale)

How amazing would it be to know what pitfalls to avoid before you get to them before you get married? How to resolve issues? How to communicate your feelings? Isn’t it ironic that people get themselves prepared in one way or another for a lot of things in life but they don’t get prepared or try to figure out what it would take to have a successful marriage….?

If marriage is on your to do list, is there really anyway to get yourself prepared (and I’m not talking about when you are engaged already…way before that?)

So I ask you this…..

Do you feel like there is a way to get yourself prepared and if so what would you be willing to do to prepare for it? Have you done anything so far? If so what was it?

Why is it that with everything else we are ready to do the research to get ourselves prepared for the unknown…but we often walk into marriage thinking we can take a crash course at the alter…?