TWODOPEMOMS.com

1. No being put on steroids for my Sarcoidosis

2. Having a beautiful and clever child

3. Having great and loving friends

My dog Jessica aka Jessie aka Jess aka Jessie Le’ Supli Dog is by far one of the best dogs that you could have on the face of the planet. She is kind, loving, a bit of a rabble rouser and she loves to cuddle and have her tummy rubbed. There have been countless times that we have cuddled on the sofa and she’s given me the equivalent of a doggie hug.  There has been times I was crying and she would lick my legs as a way to heal my emotional wounds. There are also those awesome days when I stay home and work and she jumps on me, barks at me, shakes her favorite monkey and sometimes just “zones out”.  I was never a “dog person” … but falling in love with Jessie while I was living in the United Kingdom and bringing her to the United States was by far one of the best things I’ve ever done.

I love you and I’m so very thankful for you being in my life, Jess!

Unless you are suffering a hardship that has turned your heart to coal and you sacrifice lemurs as a sport…. Children should always make you thankful for life.

They used to tell me that babies are angels on earth. I did not believe that until I had my daughter. The days I used to marvel at her were many… And I still do, even now as she is very nutty 4yr old. Children represent hope, they represent everything that was beautiful and loving within you.

To watch them discover the world, it makes me thankful and grateful to be alive.

Dear Ballard Catchings,

I am thankful that you were my father and I hope that you are resting in peace.

Though our life together was tumultuous and we spent many years apart, I loved you and I loved what you did for me as a father. You taught me everything I know, even though you didn’t finish the 9th grade. You fled Jackson, Mississippi and never looked back.

You taught me that excellence was my right as a human being and that being Black did not exclude me from exuding excellence in everything I do. You taught me how to count by playing poker, spades and go-fish… I went on to graduate university with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting. You taught me about social studies by making me read the Sunday paper with you. You told me to see the world, to date – I have been to London, Paris, Ireland, Belgium, and Amsterdam… and I plan to see much more of the world until my last breath. Even though you never left America, you taught me that being global was the way of the future and that I needed to know more about the world in order to be at the top of my game. You taught me about music. Sitting in the car listening to Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington on your 8-track you forced me to learn all my instruments through closing my eyes and listening to jazz for hours upon end in the summer time when I went to work with you. I became a DJ at the age of 27 and a damn good one at that.

You taught me about racism and how it was the cancer of the world. Even though your mother had been raped by the white farmer in which held your family as indenture servants and she died giving birth to his baby, you taught me that racism was a cancer on the world and it cheated people out of true friendships in life. You taught me to be open to all ethnicities, all nationalities and to be a good person. You taught me that there are really only two people: Good People and Bad People. You told me that I may find a long, great and wonderful lasting friendship in a white, Asian or another ethnic person and to accept that friendship because at our core we are all human. You taught me that being color blind is ignorance and accepting a person for all that they are is the way forward to having the world recognize my own greatness and making the world a better place. I want you to know I have friends of all races, all political preferences, from many different countries.

I want you to know your grand-daughter is both an American citizen and a citizen of the British Empire; she is both African-American and European-British, she speaks English, Mandarin and Spanish.

She is your legacy – she is the beautiful fruit of all the love and wisdom you put into me.

Most of all daddy, I want you to know that it was you that sowed the seed of greatness in me from as long as I could remember and though our life as father and child was marred with a long separation, it was that love, dedication and effort you put into me from an early age that set me on the path to “fabulousness”.

I am thankful that you were my dad.

I love you!

I am thankful for my daughter.
I am thankful for my real friends.
I am thankful for my mind and education.
I am thankful for my willingness to love and accept others.
I am thankful for being alive, no matter how much pain I am suffering now.

Even in the darkness of the night, when the devil lurks to fertilize for mind with depression and sadness… There is a great POWER in calling out what made you happy, so you know the day… A day out of your life was not a total loss.

Everyday is a WIN… I am slowly learning.

Everyday is a WIN.