I seriously have been a giant slacker in keeping this blog up to date. There's not much to update on, but I've just got a few tiny recaps and shout outs haha!
First, (a belated) Merry Christmas 2012. Yes, I know, about 3 1/2 weeks late, but every day can be Jesus' birthday! Speaking of Jesus' birth, my church, St. John Missionary Baptist Church, did a production for the holiday based on the Black Nativity (check out a clip of one version of the Black Nativity here). My, what a treat that was! I was cast to play the Blessed Virgin. If you know me, you know how funny that is, for several reasons. One, I'm not an actress. I love performing arts, but that was not the performing art with which I was gifted. Two, let's just put it this way, Jasmine and kids = skrrrrrrrrrr. I was so nervous because I've never acted and it is so out of my comfort zone. In any case, during rehearsals, during the actual performance, our cast, led by our awesome Minister of Music, had chuuuuuuuuuuuurch! Y'all we were blessed every single time we had to run through a scene. The Holy Ghost filled that place over and over again. I'm glad that I was a part of that. It was so different for St. John, but I hope we continue to do creative and innovative things like that in the future.
Second, (another belated) Happy New Year! Late, again. Don't judge. (As an aside, am I the only one who gets wickedly annoyed when folks say "Happy New Years!"? I mean, we only celebrate ONE new year at a time, so what sense does it make to say "years"? That just burns me up! Let's do better, y'all, and say Happy New Year. Soapbox over.)
Third, (gosh, I'm seriously slacking) an ear-piercing Skeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-Wee to my beloved Sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated! We were very blessed to celebrate 105 years of service and sisterhood this past Tuesday, January 15, 2013. What an honor it is to be a part of such an illustrious and esteemed organization, that (to my heart's content) is controlled and run by BLACK WOMEN! This group of women is so resourceful and hard-working, but more than that, we are a group that truly loves each other. In the past few years there have been a few bumps in the road (that I won't go into), but we continue to strive toward excellence! Special shout out to my dear Omicron Chi chapter at my Alma Mater Rhodes College, and of course, my heart, my Beta Pi Omega chapter here in LR! I would not be the woman I am today if these two chapters had not bestowed upon me the honor of being among their ranks.
And to my sisters in Greekdom, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, welcome to the Centennial club! If I know anything, I know it was so exciting to make that journey back to where it started. We are not a part of the same group, but it makes me proud to see yet more beautiful women doing amazing things in the community!
The biggest thing I have to share right now, though, is a testimony to how good God has been to my family in the past year. So in 2012, January 13, my mom suffered a minor stroke. We had been noticing stuff like her talking crazy and not doing things the way she normally would, and it finally happened. But bless God for several people. I called my mom at work to ask her something, but they told me that she had gone home for the day because she was sick. Anyone who knows her knows that she NEVER goes home sick. Like ever. In fact, we have to make her take off just because. I knew something was up then. I raced home (probably going about 30 mph above the speed limit the entire day) and found my mother there, as some of her co-workers drove her home, disoriented, saying that she just didn't feel right. I called my sister and told her what was up, and she called a doctor she used to work with (she's in pharmaceuticals) to see if we could get Mama in. The nurse who answered probably saved Mama's life. Cindy. My sister explained to Cindy what was going on and Cindy said we probably needed to get Ma to the ER as soon as we could. God forever bless Cindy. I drove my mom as fast as I could to the ER without having a wreck or wrecking her nerves and mine, and they got her in relatively quickly. Thank God for the lady checking in patients. She slide us up toward the front so we could be seen. In triage, Mom's BP was (at least) in the 200s/100s. Stroke level. At that point, we didn't know what it was. The doctors were so nice and the nurses were so nice to all of us. They brought Mom's BP down slowly and teased at her to take care of herself, and they kept her over night. Y'all, I thought I was in a nightmare...
I'm telling you, that was the most traumatic time ever. Over the course of the next few weeks and months, we found out that she'd had a stroke, albeit minor, we got her on the appropriate medicines and got her into therapy. By the grace of God, today, my Mom is recovered. She isn't the exact same person as before, but she is HERE and she is BETTER. I can't tell you the number of times when I would just cry myself to sleep thinking about what could have been and how I could have helped make sure this didn't happen, and even why this had to happen in the first place. I didn't know how I would get through. We kept seeing improvements and more improvements and steps that told us that she was getting better. I mean, sometimes she has problems, but, she does much better at taking care of herself than she did before. Then on January 13, 2013, it marked a year since she first got sick. I still feel anxious and sometimes really worried about my mom's health and whether something else will happen, but I am marking this important milestone. I can't believe that in that year, I finished grad school, started a new job, my sister started a new job, I've had major changes in major relationships, so much stuff. But thank God. My Mommy is getting better. One day at a time.
I forgot what my end point was when I started telling that story, but I hope that someone is touched by it. No matter was the situation is, there is always a light at the end of that. There are always going to be storms, but after the storms are the most beautiful rainbows...So until next time,
Salaam,
jMed
P.S. One more shout out to two very sweet people, Ms. Loretta (I know you're reading this!) and Andre! They are getting married this Sunday!! My prayers for a wonderful marriage go out to you!!
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