Don't Blink

January 2020 seemed to have lasted forever but February 2020 flew past.  I feel like I blinked and it was gone.  It’s been a very emotional time for a number of reasons.  The untimely death of Kobe Bryant affected many people all over the world for so many reasons.  He was one of the greatest basketball players of all time BUT he was also so many other things to so many people.  I can’t say that I was a Kobe fan per se.  I knew of him of course, I watched him play but wasn’t really aware of many aspects of his life that are now being talked about.  Two very special people in my life were affected by his passing, my youngest daughter, Jennifer is one of the biggest basketball fans I’ve ever known.  She loves the game and although the Spurs are her favorite team, she felt the sting of losing Kobe very deeply.  My husband who also loves the game of basketball grew up watching Kobe and actually refers to him as his childhood hero.  I knew that once he heard about this tragedy he would also mourn his loss very personally. To see so many people mourning him has been difficult to watch and maybe for some even harder to handle all the why’s.  My heart aches for his wife Vanessa because I cannot imagine her pain and suffering right now. 

My hometown of Harrisburg, PA is now mourning the loss of an Icon, Vera Cornish recently passed away and when the news broke of her death my social media was on fire.  So many people had been touched by her place in our community.  Although I wasn’t a close personal friend of hers I know Vera and we interacted many times over the years I’ve lived here.  Most recently was last year at an event where we were both vendors selling our books.  Although Vera wasn’t a celebrity like Kobe the similarities of the response of the news of her death and his hit home for me.  They were both loved by so many people from so many different backgrounds, races, cultures, etc.  The one thing I noticed immediately after Kobe’s death was how his death and the mourning and grief spanned all ethnic backgrounds, political beliefs etc.  Everyone loved Kobe.  I see now that everyone in this small town of Harrisburg, PA loved Vera as well.  This is proof to me that we can all come together and agree on something.  We don’t have to constantly be divided by our skin color, political views, social or financial status.  In the face of tragedy or grief we can all just be human beings.  That’s what I love, those little glimpses of how things could be if we all just took a minute and thought about it.  It’s okay to look different and have different ideas and beliefs.  We can disagree on things and still agree that we’re all human and all deserve the basic rights and respect from one another.

I titled this post don’t blink because it all goes by so fast, life that is.  We’re all shocked by the sudden death of someone who we thought should still be here.  We take a brief moment and think about our own mortality but honestly most don’t think about it long enough to actually do anything about it.  There’s really nothing you can do to prevent death and we never know when it’s coming but what you can do is make sure that you make your life count for something.  Everyone won’t be famous like Kobe or even as well known in  your own little towns as Vera was in Harrisburg, PA but that doesn’t mean that you or your legacy can’t mean something.  What’s really sad is that oftentimes people die and they never really knew how we felt about them.  Why is it so easy to tell people how much they meant to you when they’re dead but you didn’t tell them when they were alive?  

I feel like my life has been changed so much in 2020, in so many ways and it’s all good.  I’m continuing to enjoy my participation in the Crown Holders Sisterhood group which was created by Ella Curry.  I’m interacting with many woman I’ve never met but we all share something in common, we’re driven to pursue our dreams.  I’m getting things done that I didn’t even know I needed to do.  I’ve gotten back to planning my time and sticking to those plans as much as possible.  I’m examining my connections and making tough decisions as to how I move forward with or without some of them.  I’m choosing to be more strategic in my relationships.  To spend more time with those who pour into my cup, not just take out of it.  I’m a giver by nature but I’m learning that my cup will always be empty if I don’t make sure it’s getting replenished on a regular basis.  If it’s not bringing me peace, it must go.

This coming month, March is bringing with it many new opportunities.  I'll be staring a new job, My non profit will officially have office space, I'm picking up the keys tomorrow.  I have several projects in the works which I expect to complete within the next month.  I’m going to be busy but productive and I'm expecting tremendous growth through it all.