Tag Archives: Family

She’s Crying

03 Sunday Sep 2017

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Rising tides of insurmountable waves
Indiscriminate to zipcode and identification to a degree
Uncertainty and displacement
Helping hands extended in harm’s way
Humanity at a time when circumstance and situation require her best
Young and old
Equally dependent and deserving of a calming presence of safety and shelter
Flooded homes and dampened realities will yield to the power of hope and possibility
Created when one cares about others more than themselves
We must see the beauty in a difficult situation once again
Fleeting memories are etched with the trauma born from Harvey’s tears
Yet a city named Houston has been left to do the crying…

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Through Loss We Find Strength

20 Friday Mar 2015

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As the years and memories fade and are reimagined
The loss of loved ones endure within us sentiments
Sentiments that recapture what those we’ve loved
have meant and continue to mean each and every day
Losing those whom you love is an inevitable part of living
A part of living that reminds us of how limited our physical time will be on this earth
Reminds us what we too easily forget
the importance not only of loving but being loved
Reminds us that the love we can offer is unique
And truly meaningful
A meaning that we often are painfully reminded of in memoriam
Through loss
We find strength
A strength to cry as we reflect
A strength to mourn as our hearts require
A strength to move one step forward through each tear and moment of sadness
Through loss
We find strength
A strength to share our memories for future generations to know
A strength to help fill a void that loss often creates
Not equally as our predecessor
but only as we can through what we carry with us of them
Through loss
We find strength
A strength that is forged through long nights and pillow soaked mornings
A strength forged through battles with depression and grief
A strength forged through allowing others to see our vulnerabilities
Through loss
We find strength
To continue
To remember
To share
To love
In order that we can continue to live
So that our love for them can too…

In Remembrance

21 Tuesday Oct 2014

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Taking moments to reflect on what others mean is essential to the growth that each of us should seek
Living up to the lofty expectations that we are ultimately heirs to requires that we commit ourselves
To a vision beyond ourselves
Beyond our egos
Beyond our fears
One that makes those who’ve come before us proud
We can never return to the past
yet we can invoke our memories of them
in the actions that we take in the present
In remembrance
We honor those who’ve fallen
Who’ve been laid to rest
Who’ve transcended their mortal bodies
Who’ve left an indelible mark on us in some profound way
In remembrance
We may plant a tree
Name a future child
Make a contribution in their honor
But most importantly,
We build on their legacy through our gifts
To the future
To the present
To humanity
We each have much to celebrate as we remember those whom we’ve lost
In the physical form
Yet, we hold them tighter within our hearts
In remembrance
With each passing day
I know that each of them protect me
Hear my heart
Comfort me as I long to see them again
My work is not done here as I have come to understand
In remembrance
I am reminded of how fleeting our lives really are
Yet, how impactful our impressions are and can be
on those we leave behind
In remembrance of them
I hope to leave behind much for others
when I rejoin them wherever they maybe
Until that fateful moment
I will continue to fashion
the strands that will be woven to tell my story
Thereby giving further life to their stories
Their memories
Their significance to me
in the ways in which I know how
through these timely key strokes
In remembrance

The Importance of Family

21 Monday Jul 2014

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We live our lives for defined purposes
Whether it is of Biblical, Koranic, another sacred text or even our own belief systems
We are fashioned by our thoughts
Our inner desires
Our inner voices
We are driven
In many cases, the driving force is something more closely linked
Linked to our foundation that has been set in motion
Since our births
Family
Immediate or distant
Family is the common denominator
Whether biological or fictive
Family is the centerpiece
Mothers, Fathers, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Sisters, Brothers, Nieces, Nephews, Cousins and other extensions
We are family
Family shapes our experience
We are so lucky
Lucky to have people who love us for who we are and what we are not
Those who honor us by being the best models that they can be
They are our templates for who and what we can be
Often sacrificing their dreams and possibilities so that those who follow have clearer paths
Our heroes
Our hedges
Our sounding boards
For those of us who are fortunate enough to remember or have
Found memories of being held when we were scared or hurt
Being nurtured when we needed direction
Being disciplined when we left the proper paths
Family is our center
Our regulator of sorts
As many us of do not want to let them down
Fail them
And what they envision in us
Family, as we get older, extends to lasting friendships
Bonds that last through many decades
Through many pivotal points in our respective developments
Reflect on those names for a moment
Reflect on their significance in the shaping of your present and possible future
Honor them as they are embedded within your journey
They are your personified landmarks
They are your consciousness in human form
They are the most trusted voices in your life
Your heart is in tune with them
You have no doubts of their significance
When you’re honest with yourself
They are the importance for what keeps me willing to try
Willing to sacrifice
Willing to endure
All that my journey requires
To honor all of the elders who endured all that history tells us is no more
To be a role model and inspiration for all of the future and current generations who have my walk in their sights
They are watching
They are listening
And more importantly
They are waiting for me to be the best me that I have to offer
The importance of family can never be underestimated if we are truly wishing to be complete
It takes many forms and I’ve only identified a few
Envision what importance family has for you
Now that you’ve begun to do so
What are you going to add to that image?
What are you offering to that so important legacy?
The importance of it is love
Love for all that you are and aren’t
Love of your strengths
Love of your weaknesses
Love of your vulnerabilities
Love of your potential
The importance of family is that if you are willing
It can be created no matter where you are or go
It is one of the most beautiful aspects of the lived experience
Guard your journey as if it is the only one you’ll get
There is a good chance that it is…
And with each day moving forward
Embrace
Savor
Enhance
The family that is and even the family that isn’t
Build your family on the premises of love, respect, honesty, dignity, and support without neglecting the necessity of wisdom
Family is found in a hug
Family is found in a kiss
Family is found in each of us
Please allow its importance to radiate from within you for others to see and encounter
In doing so, you have the essence of
Family…

Honoring Home

22 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Poetry, PSDW Reflective Journal

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Over the course of roughly eleven years
a journey has been embarked upon
In search of a means to make a difference within the communities that our children grow
While all of our children matter to educators who have a love and appreciation for the responsibilities that our profession demands
There are many examples of the contrary…
Yet, this is not the purpose of this conversation,
For that,
I have to look before that fateful day in 2003 when I tearfully left my safety net as a first grade teacher.
I have to look before my years teaching while simultaneously attending graduate schools in pursuit of master’s degrees in business administration and elementary education/curriculum instruction.
I have to look even further back during my wonderful years as a Panther at my alma mater, Prairie View A&M University, in which I still struggled with some of my childhood limitations and expressions of immaturity
But more importantly, I have to dig deeper into the recesses of my memories of lessons and struggles that preceded even these valuable moments in the shaping of the person who I am…
Honoring home is what I’d like to call my current entry
Honoring the wonderful efforts of a mother who always sacrificed for not only me but all of those whom she loved
A woman who instilled a “country-type” set of values for a son who connects more with the big city
Honoring a father whose focus was leading a business that has endured many seasons and weathered a multitude of torrential storms, with some being self-inflicted.
Honoring home is reflecting on my collection of brothers who in their own ways served as models for me even though they did this from considerable distances
Honoring home is remembering the sisterly influences that I have had the privilege of receiving from a collection of remarkable women who still inspire and advise me today in my most important life decisions
Honoring home is reflecting
Honoring home is an ongoing part of my every day
It is presenting myself with dignity, respect, professionalism, honesty, integrity, sensitivity, thoughtfulness, and pride as instilled into me by my family, extended family, friends, mentors, teachers, and yes, even my students.
Honoring home is living up to charge that I have been given as a future and current elder
Honoring home is being a person who elicits pride from those who I have been inspired by
Honoring home is demonstrating a desire to grow which ultimately is one of the true measures validating that the seeds that were planted within me have actually taken root and flourished
Honoring home is being a role model to my nieces and nephews who I love dearly
Honoring home is being the man that honors my ancestors who sacrificed for others who then ultimately sacrificed for me
Honoring home means that I live up to the standards and expectations that this path requires no matter the costs
Honoring home means embracing the inner beauty and drive that is the essence of who I am.
Honoring home is offering through dedication a legacy that fortifies the true essence of all of what I’ve stated above—love…
Honoring home is loving myself for no other reason than there was a community of love invested within me so that I could know how to love myself
Honoring home is a process that I seek to do one step at a time
So as I seek to honor home, I seek to offer the best that I can in the situations that I may find myself
whether the situations are in classrooms, meetings, and/or other social settings.
Honoring home is honoring the mission that home has essentially aided in me pursuing
Each time that I teach, I am honoring home near and far
Each time that I teach I am:
Honoring my ancestors
Honoring my family
Honoring my teachers
Honoring my mentors
Honoring my friends
Honoring my community
Honoring my students’ futures
Honoring the lives of the people who my students will touch
Honoring the love that I have for learning
Honoring what calls on me to pray and give thanks
Honoring home is why I am often so excited when I teach or talk about teaching
Honoring home provides me with the motivation and passion for how I do what I do
Honoring home is what you make it
Honoring home is what makes you…

So my question for you is, “How are you honoring your home?”