Living in a COVID world… This week the Covid saga continues! The entire family got tested because our middle child had a positive COVID case in her class. That was fun. Anyway, it was gorgeous weather on Good Friday. We were living our best pandemic life and rejoicing in another lockdown that was about to start on Saturday morning at 12 am. I went out for my walk, took the kids to the mall, stopped at Chapters to buy them some new books to read, then on Saturday we decided to order KFC for supper. I was so excited to eat that greasy food that I love so much. My Saturday night was going to be a night of watching Moesha, enjoying the rabbit hole that is Tik Tok while my husband was at Game Knight painting terrain for our future tournaments. The children were enjoying Roblox (that’s a multi-billion dollar company… Blows my mind). We got the food but I should’ve known something was wrong because for the first time I smelled the overcooked chicken in oil. The smell was so strong. I knew it was a bad batch but I ignored my intuition and drove home. We dug into the food and I ate that food like I hadn’t eaten a meal in weeks. Still tasted like normal KFC but something was off.
We finished supper and I started my night of relaxing. Suddenly, my stomach started to hurt. I was overheating and becoming uncomfortable. Ran to the bathroom and it started coming out of both ends. It was painful. The kids watched and enjoyed the show while being disgusted at the same time. I enjoyed disgusting them while dying inside. I’m the worst sick person you will ever meet but my husband comes second. We hate being sick and I will complain the entire time until I feel better. Worst patient ever. Once I finished emptying my stomach and bowels I decided to go lay on the couch to salvage my night at the same time cursing KFC and swearing that I will never eat their food again. Of course, I’m messaging the husband with pictures but why not? He must share in my agony. We decided that it was probably food poisoning. Until I received an email from the kid’s school saying that my middle baby’s class came into contact with a covid person. Naturally, I started to freak out that I may have covid. My middle baby Amelia started to complain of a headache. I started to trace our steps from the entire day. She never naps but that day she had a 2-hour nap with her dad on the couch and dad also complained of a headache. We were convinced that we had Covid. We notify all the people we had contact with to tell them.
The school called to tell us about the steps. Amy’s entire class would move to online learning till April 13th (my birthday!). Is that a sign from the universe? Anyways, they wanted us to isolate her from her siblings. We told the kids and they all had mixed reactions. My oldest is a germaphobe and lost her mind. My son asked if his sister was going to die and Amy was sad that she couldn’t be around her siblings. Amy is a people person. She loves people and is so loving. For her mental health, we decided that we were all going to quarantine as a family but I hate online learning and still wanted to send the other two kids to school.
Saturday was spent worrying and being paranoid. We called to book our test. That process was well handled but they couldn’t fit us all on the same day. Addy, our oldest, got her appointment on Monday late afternoon and the rest of us was Tuesday morning. By Sunday we were feeling well and back to ourselves. We knew that we didn’t have Covid and it was just a fluke of a day. We had to be sure and I wanted the kids back to school. The grandparents came to drop off Easter dinner while we visited 10 feet apart outside for an hour. The visit was short but it was nice seeing them. We had a zoom visit with my side of the family and that was nice. The kids love seeing their kakus( Grandparents in Congolese)
I made the mistake of showing Addy a YouTube video of a COVID test and she freaked out and started to cry. I had to hold her hand for 5 seconds of discomfort. Amy and Tristan took it like a champ but I didn’t like the experience and expect kids would react poorly. I would hope they have other methods for kids so they are not scared. Besides the discomfort, the experience was good and I was impressed with how well it’s organized and executed. We had our results within 24 hours of the initial test. The entire family was negative.
My dream is to one day complain or talk about other things. I know there’s a lot of subjects that we can talk about but it’s also depressing. I honestly thought that by summer 2021 we would be back to normal and didn’t expect to be in this situation for this long and entering our third lockdown with the numbers getting worse.
Covid did it again (or us humans). We are back to red and lockdown is looming. I’m honestly tired and I just want to go asleep and wake up when this part of the pandemic is over. I just want to cry mostly because we don’t want another lockdown for our business but we also just got back into the swing of things with our gym routine. Tasting freedom and them taking it back. I don’t want to get into the blame game or the politics of things… I just want this whole thing to end. For people to do their parts, people that don’t believe in it to shut up and help the rest of us complying so we can just move on.
I started writing this post and two days later an emergency lockdown was announced. We have been living in an endless loop. My husband describes it as playing Mario on the original NES and he is in a middle of a level and his brother pushes the reset button every time and he can never finish that level. We are mentally exhausted and emotionally exhausted. This is the 3rd time we had to close our business and would be the 4th time to reopen. Each time we hit a sweet spot and can relax a bit the government comes knocking on our doors. I’m not anti-mask or anti-vaccine or anti-pandemic or a conspiracy theorist but a small business owner that’s tired and frustrated at the situation overall. If we didn’t own our own business I don’t think I would care as much and just go along with the program of the pandemic. Conspiracy people may be right but there’s nothing we can do about it – We have to follow the rules. It’s not that hard to just comply to try and beat this thing. You still get to eat, watch tv, zoom, call, order food, and go outside, but apparently, that’s not enough – I don’t think most people would survive a zombie apocalypse here in Canada or the states.
Luckily our community has been very supportive and encouraging to Game Knight. They always help us keep our spirits up. It only took one month this time around to get our numbers back up to normal. The only good thing is that they are trying to keep the schools open for a while but I’m pretty sure that will eventually end up with kids going back to online learning. I have no control so let’s shift my energy to things I can control.
I started walking 8k every day after our morning workout and my husband started to do the walks with me now since the gym is closed. Anything with Tristan is an adventure. On our first walk, I took a different route, and of course, we got lost and took us longer than when I do it by myself. I enjoy the walks with him, we talk the entire 80-90 minutes non-stop. At the first lockdown, we started doing the ice bath challenge and that lasted about 2 weeks. I come up with crazy ideas and he joins me in support. Seriously, get yourself a best friend that will encourage you in your madness.
Here is video if you are interested in the benefits or the science behind ice bath.
Let’s get back to my walks. On Good Friday I decided to do my normal 8k walk twice. For a total of 16k! So my husband joined me for the first 8k walk and then said “You are crazy, but go for it!”. I did my first 16k walk and took me 2 hours and 40 minutes. People may think it’s hard but it actually really easy to do. I listen to the entire Koffi Olomide album on Spotify. He is the African Michael Jackson/R. Kelly. His old music is amazing but the new music sucks because he is trying to cater to the new generation and the substance just isn’t there anymore. Or maybe I’m just old now and I like it better the old way, the way I was used to LOL. I say like R. Kelly because he allegedly likes to do the same criminal activities. I’m not saying that R. Kelly is innocent but I’m saying a lot of people should also be accountable, especially some parents. I don’t want to victim blame but some of these scenarios are just awful… like what did you EXPECT to happen? I’m all for this awakening and self-aware society but I’m hoping to get to a point where there is balance and due process. Yes, we live in a patriarchy and the rich get away with murder, the justice system is rigged, blahhhh. Anyways, that’s another topic altogether and you know how I love to get distracted. My first 16k walk was a breeze – I love the Nobless Oblige album. It took me back to my childhood. Koffi played a big part in my childhood. It was the first video album I saw. We would get excited, learn the songs and dance moves. So while I’m walking those videos are playing in my mind and I just remember happy memories and house parties we had at the house. African parties are the best. Music and food are the highlights. I talk to myself and time just flies away. I usually do the walk at 8 AM after the gym but this time we started at 1045 AM. I loved seeing people and families outside at the parks. Just remind me of downtown Toronto packed with people from morning to night in the street going places and energy of life. Tristan and I used to do 3 hours of walking a day when we lived downtown Toronto. We walked everywhere. I loved that and also being in nature. Being outside gives me life and rejuvenates me. The soles of my feet hurt but this is my new thing. I will still keep sprinting at night before bed to just keep moving. Movement is important for my mental health.
I also started Osteopathy (google it). I’m a gypsy (some people may call it witch stuff) but I love to try everything that involves natural stuff just once. April is my birth month so in our house, we call it Passy’s month. I don’t care for birthdays or birthday attention from people but I love that attention from my children and my husband. If you read my first post, I had goals that I wanted to achieve. I’m still haven’t mastered drinking five water bottles a day and my reading hasn’t advanced past the 19 pages. Since we started another lockdown I will make an effort to accomplish those goals.
This week was fun!!!!!!!!!!!!! We finally made it back to the gym and it felt amazing. The gym is like our 3rd home. Our first home is our house, our second home is Game Knight, and our third home is the gym. We’ve had a gym routine for MOST of the last 15 years. We took a few breaks (during pregnancy, etc) but always get back to it. We are temporarily complete until COVID screws us over again. She doesn’t want us to live our normal lives. I LOVE the pain of sore muscles the next day. The beautiful ache… It makes me feel alive and like I actually did some work. No pain no gain is my motto for gym life. I’m going, to be honest – Running has been hard lately and boring (check the previous posts for my fitness journey) so the gym reopening was good timing. I decided to take on hiking now that the weather is nice again. After our workout, I go for a hike. Trying to spice up my workout habits and make it more interesting by going on hiking adventures around London and with time I will venture to other spots in London with the fam jam. While I’m writing this post there’s the sound of the music song playing in my head about my favorite things. It wouldn’t be fun If I didn’t share it with you guys.
So since this a post of all my favorite things. On my first day back to the gym I went by myself so that means that I get to listen to music instead of talking to my gym partner the entire session. For that one hour, I only listened to one song. Called drivers license by Olivia Rodrigo. I have an obsessive personality and my family is like that too. We will listen to a song on repeat till the end of time. Abuse the song until we get tired of it. It’s a weird song to listen to at the gym but it does the trick for me and still motivates me. It transported me to a time when I was a teenager and I had imaginary relationships in my head. My obsession days. I do apologize to everyone that I had to suffer from my stories. The funny thing about this song is that my children used to watch a show on Disney with Olivia in it and when I discovered the song my oldest daughter decided that it wasn’t cool anymore. You could be the coolest mother on the planet but children have a way of bringing you back to earth and pressing your insecurity buttons… In return, I take pleasure in all things that embarrass them. I have ruined this song and Tik Tok for her.
Nothing ruins a perfect workout better than some delicious deep-fried food. We discovered a new place here in London called BTRMLK (Buttermilk chicken). On Friday we went on a lunch date to explore a new place – We like to support local businesses in our area, especially people that sell food. I love and love food. This place was packed. Get yourself a best friend that would wait in line for you while it’s cold outside and you are waiting in the car to eat that food. Make sure you show up 30 minutes before they open.
Lastly, my favorite son turned 7 years old – I’m happy he is growing up but I’m losing my baby. Time seems so slow at times but also so fast.
We waited a day and half to get a response from the Queen. And what a response it was. The most gaslighting response ever written. If gaslighting was a person then Queen Elizabeth II would be that person. What the fuck is that response. It was cold and basically saying it was not worth her time but they forced her to write something.
Let’s read between the lines. The family doesn’t give a shit about Harry and Meghan especially the people releasing this statement. The Queen is just a puppet that’s not really in charge. But let’s pretend that she actually had a say in this statement. “The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning” – Not really that concerning to us because we are the epitome of racists and we don’t deny it in this woke culture but the rest of the world is freaking out about it so we’ll say ‘concerning’. Then “while some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously”. I’m pretty sure she’s calling them liars and trying to throw doubt into the public perception so to say that they imagined this entire situation. Thirdly, “…will be addressed by the family privately” – so the institution isn’t accountable for anything and we are avoiding any responsibility to be forced to change our ways. The End… We are done talking about this and we are above the law and choosen by God to not give a fuck about you low-class (peasant) people.
But the institution and the Firm have enough energy to write a detailed response to the accusations against Meghan from THREE YEARS AGO but the complaints she made herself about the way she was being treated are ignored? Prince Andrew gets accused and there’s even an actual victim showing her face to say that he raped her but there’s no investigation, he gets to keep his security, titles, and financial support? I’m a firm believer of innocent until proven guilty so I’m not saying Andrew is guilty but I’m saying that the institution made no changes to the support they offer him even though the accusations are more severe. All Harry and Meghan ever wanted was equality. I will ask again why is Canada paying millions a year to the royal family so they can be the head of our state? Why are they still a monarch, they have no real power in terms of running any government in their commonwealth countries or their own country. Why are the British people still supporting them? I have been watching the news from Europe and the response is crazy. God Save the Queen!!! The Queen and her family give zero fucks about you guys. It may not seem like it now but I think Harry and Meghan have set the wheels in motion for the end of this empire. Oh, I guess I should say Diana was the first blow.
I have been consumed with this royal craziness for a week now and it’s time for me to get back to my normal schedule. My peanut gallery advice to Meghan and Harry is to move on. You have set things in motion but the Royal family won’t take you back and I assumed that you don’t want to go back. Heal the relationships with your brother and father but with boundaries because, at the end of the day, they will always be your family. You can have relationships with toxic family members, you just have to be cautious and keep them at an arm’s length ( some people will never change). Focus on your new life by doing good with your charities and building your own empire. The Royal family will only change when the people as a collective demand change. That’s my advice for everyone, really – We are the masters of our own destiny so we must learn to live our best life
I have an infinity for anything royal (I used to have )- the history of the British Empire and their literature. There’s something romantic and magical about it. Sometimes I think I could live in the Jane Austen universe but then I realize I would probably just be a slave that’s being raped by the white man (realistic and true). When I see royal gossip I eat it up. I love the fantasy of it all. I loved Princess Diana because she seemed flawed in a perfect way. This woman had her struggles and was human but she was kind and pure. I love people that are just honest about who they are and are not ashamed to show us their flaws. We will connect that way. Her life was a tragedy. Her legacy is her true essence – It still lives on and people still love the Queen of heart and she almost took down the British Firm (the royal family), if you believe the conspiracy theories about them killing her. That theory isn’t far-fetched. They have built their empire with blood money so I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. They must protect their own at any cost. Blood is thicker than water. The press loved Diana because she was their people and a white woman and that’s why the British media treatment of her was better than Meghan Markle.
I’m a big fan of Suits but Meghan Markle was never my favorite character in that show. I loved Donna and Harvey. On a side note – I didn’t enjoy the ending very much because Harvey and Donna deserved better. Anyways, that how I was introduced to Meghan Markle and got more interested when she started to date Prince Harry and loved their story. As a mother of biracial children, you get excited to see representation of people like them out there in the world. I have also noticed a lot of commercials, tv shows, and movies are starting to be inclusive and representing the diversity in our multicultural world. There’s still a long way to go for Black, Asian, and other minorities to play the lead roles but we are slowly making our way.
Anyway – Let’s get to the topic at hand. There was an excitement about this American biracial woman that actually made it into the royal family. She wasn’t a mistress or an affair – She was a biracial girl marrying her Prince and we were celebrating love. Unfortunately, her white family came out of the woodwork trying to sabotage her and her Prince defended her was refreshing. One thing that never sat well with me was Prince Charles walking her down the aisle instead of her mother (patriarchy at its finest). I’m pretty sure she didn’t like that either but played the game trying to please her new family and to fit in. You could see all the side-eyes from the royal family and Camilla, I’m talking to you. You could still feel the disrespect in that joyous moment and the negative energy of those people having to suffer through the wedding ceremony of a biracial woman entering their lair. Yes, I don’t want to call her black because she is both races and I make a point, especially with my kids to embrace both races and not let society put them in a box. But there was the hope of a happy ending and the royal family entering into a new era and cleaning up their image. I should have known a family like that would never change the stripes. The British media made Megan’s life miserable and anything she did was wrong but if Kate did it, she got praised for it. I wasn’t surprised that they decided to leave. They called it the Meghan exit. She was blamed for everything. Everything. They never mentioned Harry or is part in anything.
Accountability and fairness don’t exist in that world. Is Harry so in love that he can’t think for himself, make decisions, or wipe his own ass? Where do I get that kind of potion of love? You are telling me a man that was raised in the firm that possesses so much power and is 5th in line to the throne is incapable of thinking for himself? He must be so weak to be manipulated that easily? We always blame the woman. It’s like the Brad Pitt and Angelina situation. She comes out as the bad guy? We are so fucked up has a society that we are always trying to save the man or boys that they get away with murder and the woman always bears the burden of everything. It goes back to the beginning of time. Adam and Eve got kicked out of the garden because she ate the apple and forced Adam to do it. Poor Adam!!!! These poor men!!! How are they surviving life? There’s so much much to unpack in this story. Racism, sexism, classism, patriarchal BS, imperialism, colonialism. We can have topics for days. There should be a class taught about the royal family. There probably is. I’d take that class.
When I heard that Megan and Harry were going to do an interview I was so excited for them to tell their truth. I hate when people say, “Why are they talking to the press, I thought they wanted a normal life?”. I think it’s essential so we can see the actual picture of why they left. I want to hear their side – So they can defend themselves. The Royal family is already on a smear campaign against them, by them I mean Meghan. They are protecting their own (Harry) and Prince Andrew. Secretly or not secretly they are hoping that Harry wakes up from his spell and comes back to them.
Let’s dive into this two-hour interview. I got all my snacks and my tea and ready for this hot delicious treat.
One of the revelations was Harry’s fractured relationship with his father Charles and how he cut him off financially and got more support from the 72 members of parliament than his own father. Let’s be honest that Prince Charles only cares about Camilla, himself, and being King. He doesn’t care about his children and never did. It doesn’t matter where you come from, a toxic family is a universal concept. Why would he care about a grandchild with a hint of black blood?
Secondly, they started a smear campaign about Meghan being a bully but in reality, they are the epitome of bullying. The invented bullying. I’m not surprised that Kate is a mean girl and the girl apologized in private but couldn’t help her sister -in law in public and let the media run off with a false narrative of character assassination against Meghan. I was also surprised that Meghan didn’t do her research before entering that family. That revelation was suspect to me. She is a smart, independent girl who didn’t research princess Diana? These people made their fortune with the blood of colonization. She is a girl that is super aware but didn’t use Google?
The biggest revelation (besides the racism) is Meghan talking about her suicidal thoughts.
I was expecting gossip and juicy dirt from this interview but all I came out with the royal family and their institution is racist AF. They built their empires with the blood of colonization… Should we be surprised? I just felt an overwhelming sadness. I just imagine Meghan was one of my daughters living in that world with the oldest family established and feeling trapped. Imagine Princess Diana a white woman that couldn’t survive that world and how hard it must’ve been for a biracial woman?
We learned that they basically got kicked out of the royal family. Apparently being a ‘spare’ instead of an ‘heir’ doesn’t guaranty you anything – You are expendable. She was literally set up for failure. The tabloid is working with the royal family. Archie didn’t get a title because he’s got some black blood in him even if his father is a Prince (Grandpapa would be a future King), he doesn’t get a title or security because of the color of his skin. They changed the law for him (WOW). All they wanted was support. They threw Meghan under the bus to make Kate look good when Kate was being the mean girl. There was a lot to unpack in the two hours.
This interview is heartbreaking on so many levels. The royal family is basically the hunger games – If you don’t play by their rules you shall be destroyed at any cost. If they can treat their own blood that way then imagine people that are not in their family. I have a theory that the institution is Prince Charles (Camilla) and Prince William and they are the people that talked about Archie’s skin color and refusing to let Meghan get help for her mental health. We all know now when Kate and William advocate for mental health it’s all bullshit because they refused to help their own family member. I’m surprised that William didn’t try to help his own brother after experiencing what that whole institution did to destroy his mother. I guess he’s become the system that he hated. The fairytale is actually a nightmare. I have to give it to Harry and Meghan for still trying to protect their family because I would literally have no loyalty to people that refuse to help me or my child. I wouldn’t consider them family. I can’t imagine going from being independent and working to being trapped all in the name of love and to serve the Queen. Meghan got lucky that Harry loved her enough to walk away from that prison to save their family. He doesn’t know anything besides being a royal. I wouldn’t be surprised if Camilla endorsed him being cut out financially and her nonroyal children are being taken care of by Prince Charles. Diana tried to tell us. Why are the British people still holding on to the royal family? They no longer represent the noble ideals they once did(the picture they sold us) – They’re becoming a toxic illustration of what’s wrong with society in the open now. Oprah made a good point by saying, “Who is controlling who?” about the Royal family and the tabloids. How can they host a yearly Christmas party for the people that are trashing their own family? Do the royal family and the tabloids actually have blood on their hands(Diana)? If this is what high class is, then I would rather be where I’m at in life. This is a cautionary tale to our daughters and especially to our black girls. We need to teach them to protect themselves, be independent, and never give up their identity and self-worth to fit a narrative. Yes, he may love you but you must learn to love yourself enough to be able to walk away when things are not in your best interest. Mental health and peace in your heart is better than all the money in the world.
I’m now just waiting for the Royal family’s response!
We reopened Game Knight last week for what we hope is the last time… hoping the third time is the charm, but we’re not holding our breath! I can’t imagine our business being our only source of income and I always think about other business owners in that situation. We are lucky to have our day jobs. We’ve been trying to get people excited and reignite our communities but with rumors circulating around that a possible lockdown is looming for April or May it’s been tough. The community has been so supportive. We decided to wait to reopen in orange (instead of red) for the simple reason that the 10 person limit under red status is too restrictive – We hated having to turn people away. That was the hardest part about being in red in December. There should be a documentary called “Surviving COVID” because the struggle is real. I’m always grateful for how lucky we are – I know there’s people around the world that have it much worse. How do people survive in war torn countries, I can’t even imagine the economic or social conditions that they must endure. I will definitely keep complaining about having to clean our store and the stupid mats that my partner decided that we needed for the Warhammer players – They mats look great for like 5 seconds then people walk on them. They get diry SO EASILY and the cleaning process is annoying AF. With any partnership, you give and take. I shall let it go but I will complain about it till we find another solution. If you have a better cheaper option for us to replace those mats, please TELL ME!!!!
My Favorite Mats
We spent our weekend slaving away in joy. It’s funny that I enjoy when we are working together and cleaning while I complain my life away. That’s always the best time for me. Here is a video of the cleaning, working on terrain and me going around buying things to restock our fridge.
We reopened on March 1st. Game Knight had a great turnout with people coming out to play games. That always feels great and gives us hope and energizes us that we should continue despite all the struggles. The community is keeping our dreams alive.
On Thursday I went on a little adventure with my middle child to Sarnia for her dentist appointment. You might wonder why I would drive two hours there for a 20-minute visit. The answer is; I’m super lazy – And my lazy ways work in mysterious ways. Our doctor is originally from Sarnia but had an office in London. He came once a month for his orthodontist patients and drove back. Because of Covid, he decided to just stay in Sarnia and gave us options to either stay with him or he would refer us to another doctor here in London. We really liked him though, so we decided to keep him. I’ve always heard that Sarnia is a great town with nice beaches so this gives me an opportunity to explore the town and have an adventure day with my baby. Maybe when the weather is nice I will take the kids out of school and we would spend the day there. My kids will only have braces for a short period of time so I figured we can make it work for now. I spend those two hours annoying her (she actually loves to drive with me), we both love eating food so that’s an excuse to stop and eat something. I’m also forced to get out of the house. I love being a hermit. I love people and socializing but I find that people DRAIN me and I need to recharge.
On a fun note, I’m so excited about the Harry and Megan interview on Sunday that I decided to dedicate an entire blog to it next week. If you have read my previous post about me not caring about Oprah W lately. I will put my grudge aside and watch that interview. I really hope that it lives up to my expectation. I’m here for all the hot tea and the tea better be burning hot that it sends me to the hospital. My boner better explode, that’s how excited I am about this topic.
Today I want to talk about my experiences as a Congolese Canadian.
Like most first-generation immigrants, our parents did a great job to teach us about our culture and give us a sense of pride in where we come from – While still exposing us to the Canadian culture. I never felt out of place at school and fit in well. I think it was easier for them because they spent years in Europe before coming to Canada, so there wasn’t a huge cultural shock. They didn’t struggle to integrate into a new country. They integrated well and we were raised “normally” and when they talked about tradition is wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. We opened gifts on Christmas eve, we ate our country dishes. We focused on our education. Pretty sure most immigrants/foreigners know that song and dance of education being drilled into your brain. Dating was a no-no because they wanted us to focus on education and to worry about boys later. The saying was, “Get the degree and your husband will appear at your front door”… Some Congolaise women are still waiting for that African prince to show up.
Anyway, it wasn’t until I came home with a boy that I found out about all the traditions in our culture that had been hidden from me. Well – Maybe not HIDDEN, but they hadn’t affected me in my youth and definitely weren’t explained, so we were blindsided. I would understand if I was raised in the Congo, I would have known what was expected of me because all my life I would see my friends and family going through the same thing – But when there’s no mention of specific traditions and it’s just sprung upon you when it affects you, it can be jarring, foreign, and ultimately feel arbitrary. I guess some families are really strict with maintaining their culture with their children and don’t want them to really integrate into society, mix races or marry from a different tribe, but that wasn’t our experience. I’m from a certain tribe in the Congo called the Balubas – So, without further ado, here are some of the bizarre traditions that I found out about AFTER I was engaged! NOTE – This is entirely “as I remember them” – I’m not an authority on our cultural traditions or the rules, I just know what I was told and what I experienced:
I came home to tell my parents that I was engaged and I was told that they wouldn’t recognize the engagement because, in our culture, his parents have to come to ask for my hand in marriage.
Once married my parents can’t visit us for a meal until someone else from their village comes to our house for a meal – we struggled with that one when we had events like the birth of our children or big milestones (baptisms, etc) and we had to ask my in-laws to host my family instead of us hosting them. How inconvenient.
Another one was – my uncle can come and sleepover if he is alone but when he is with his wife, they have to sleep in a hotel. We had an uncle that came to visit from the states and we had a spare room ready for him but he couldn’t sleep at our house so we had to find him a hotel. What a waste of money!
Married men can cheat but married women can’t. If a woman cheats, she will be cursed and risk the lives of her children or her husband. Meaning she may suffer recurring losses at birth or before birth, the husband may have bad luck or die. To remove the curse, the woman must admit what she did and then perform some ritual – or the husband kicks her out and remarries.
My wedding experience was a bit traumatic. My husband and I tried my best to go along with it and be cooperative to keep the peace. I was never the girl that dreamed about being married or having a wedding. If it was up to me or my husband we would just elope. I was the first of my generation in my family here in Canada to get married. As soon as we announced our engagement, we lost ownership of our wedding. It wasn’t our day but the family’s day. My in-laws cooperated and came to Toronto to ask for my hand in marriage – In our culture, we call it la dote (dowry). It’s a cultural wedding before the civil/religious wedding. So for us, it’s more important than a civil or religious wedding. There is no marriage recognized without la dote. It’s a way of honoring the family, the education given to their daughter, and some sign of respect for taking her away from the family. By taken, I mean she is taken from that lineage to belong to another man’s lineage… That’s why often, ethnic groups like to marry within themselves. At that point, I had never heard of or seen la dote before (or never paid attention to things) so that was new to me as it was my finance. We were learning this tradition together. For us, my fiancee was instructed to offer a firearm (for hunting – Or a cash equivalent), food (rice, oil, chicken, goats), and clothes for the family (my father and an uncle, and my mother and an aunt). Now I’ve learned that these requests differ from family to family, and ours was very simple. I have heard horror stories of the family asking for ridiculous stuff. I was getting my hair braided last night by a girl from South Sudan and she was explaining to me how her sister was impregnated by her boyfriend and the family demanded $10k as compensation – He paid, but they refused him their daughter’s hand in marriage because he was from another tribe and they don’t like him. I’m grateful my family accepted my fiancee – This poor couple that loves each other and the guy is jumping through the hoops but they still said no. Anyways, looking back, our dote was the best part of the whole process because it was an intimate event with both families and we got to know each other better and share food.
Picture from our dote
Everything after that was a small annoyance. Rehearsal dinner was done at the church because families lived out of town so we combined things on to make life easier for everyone. I had an aunt that came from Europe and she asked me why I didn’t have “wedding godparents” and I was like, “What!?” I didn’t know. We had a maid of honor and best man. Then she unleashed a verbal assault. I had no idea what she was talking about, and my family just stood by and watched – They didn’t intervene because in our culture the older sibling has authority. I was shocked and mortified. There are only a few times in my life that I’ve felt powerless, and this was one of those moments. I started to cry and I’m not a crier but it took everything in me to not explode. I didn’t make a scene and just went into the bathroom to cry. We ended up using my uncle and his girlfriend as our “wedding godparents” but that didn’t make sense because they weren’t married. I love them but definitely not an example of a couple that I want my marriage standard to base upon.
In our tradition, wedding invitations are delivered by word of mouth. We had over 300 people show up at our wedding, many of which we didn’t know or have table sitting arrangements prepared for. We were scrambling to set up extra tables and chairs. I was two hours late for my own wedding because I had to wait for all the elders to get their makeup done. The DJ was an asshole who refused our requests as the bride and groom because my parents hired him so he would only take requests from them. Honestly, it felt like a shitshow for my husband and me… But we’ve heard over the years that everyone else had a good time at least.
Anyway, I’ve been procrastinating about writing on this subject because it’s tricky on so many levels but it’s a topic that needs to be explored, especially for people that come from different cultural backgrounds. I love my culture – the music, the food, the country, and my heritage overall. The Democratic Republic of Congo is literally the heart of Africa(we are located in the center of Africa on the map), previously known as Zaire. So I guess where I’m going with this is – You can love and respect your heritage but at some point, I think traditions need to be reviewed and revised or removed if they are uncomfortable or toxic, or, in some cases, degrading or prejudice. It’s much harder when you’re young, but as an adult, you are the architect of your life. You may risk being a pariah to your cultural community, or even your friends and family, but you can start over and build your own family. It might be lonely at times, but sometimes I think it’s worth it.
Go live your best black sheep/sellout life!!!!!!!
Here is a video about us talking about our interracial marriage
With the second lockdown coming to an end, we are getting ready to reopen our business again. For us, it’s been the most frustrating thing about this pandemic. We kept our retail portion open for curbside pickup, but the second lockdown has been slower than the first because of the non-essential ban and our suppliers have slowed manufacturing. We’ve had to deal with slow production, slow delivery, and many out-of-stock items. Our customers are waiting weeks or months for their orders to arrive. Seriously, it has been a shit show for small businesses like us to navigate in this pandemic. Nonetheless, we understand that we all have to do our part to help in fighting COVID and support our essential workers and protect the most vulnerable.
In October 2019 My husband and I launched our first business together called Game Knight Leagues. We refer to it as our 4th child. Tristan started a company with some friends 11 years ago and it only lasted 4 years – Not because it wasn’t a viable business, but because partnering with friends isn’t always a good idea. We learned that lesson by diving in! There are partnerships with friends that actually work, but if you look at your favorite companies that started with a duo or multiple partners, 95% of the time it’s not a happy ending for someone. For the longest time I always wanted to own a business but never really knew where to start or how it would happen. I always knew it would happen, I just didn’t know the path to get there. I see 10 steps ahead. That’s how I see my life. I used to envy people that knew their direction in life and had everything figured out but I’m not that person and it’s okay. In life you really only need 2 people to believe in you. Yourself first and one other person to encourage you to push through. A lot of people in your life won’t have your vision, understand your goals, or even care. It’s not because they don’t like you or love you but they are living their own lives and trying to find their own path. Once you accept that you are not the center of other people’s lives then life is a bit easier. Sometimes you have to be your own best friend. I went to university because that’s what was expected of me. I did not enjoy the experience but I met my future husband, so I feel like everything happens for a reason. I went to college after that and ended up in the health industry and hated it. I love people, I would like to think that I have compassion and empathy but that field drained the life out of me. I had kids, stayed home for a while (I sucked at being a stay-at-home mother) went back into the workforce in another field and I was still miserable and I believe that’s when I gained 50 pounds of awesomeness.
Off-track, I’ve been enjoying writing this blog very much and it’s reigniting my passion. It’s actually therapeutic and gives me a weird sense of joy. Don’t get me wrong, when I released this into the world, anxiety hit me hard lol and I have been in my head a lot. Often I realize that other people are not my enemy – I’m being my own enemy. Get out of your head. It’s easy to give that advice but actually doing it is much harder… But with time, deep breathing and finding good therapeutic aids (for me it’s music) helps a lot. Find something that brings you peace. When I want to be focused or inspired I like to play this song. I call it my dream motivator song. I have songs for every theme in my life. Disclaimer If you’re not a fan of cursing then this video isn’t for you. The language fits his story and his background and it wouldn’t be authentic if it was clean. I don’t want to debate about the use of some words. This is my jam and I love it.
Back to my story…. I was working, doing sports, hanging out with friends and family but I was still miserable and I just couldn’t figure out why. I had a dinner date with some friends and one of them is a therapist and she recommended one of her colleagues. I wasn’t sure about it because I have tried some and never clicked with them (it’s a process to find someone that fits you). If I’m not feeling it, then I’m not feeling it and it’s not your fault or mine but we just don’t gel and that’s okay! Anyway, I gave it a try because she came highly recommended. I kept telling her that I hated my job and every day was a struggle to go there. The more we talked, I explained my goals and dreams and how I felt stuck even if everything seemed fine – I was just going through the motions but didn’t feel like I was really living. She said, “That’s because you are not meant to work for people. You want to work for yourself!” And she was right. I had no idea what field to start in or an idea of what I want to do, all I knew was that I wanted to be my own boss and build something. Then, she asked me about going back to school for business. The first thing I said was, “That’s impossible, I have work, my husband works full time and we have 3 kids. We can’t make it work for me to be in school full time” (Prime example of fear, how I’m in my head and trying to sabotage myself). She told me a story about a client who is a single mom and just finished her studies and said I could do it too. I was still not sure. My husband comes from a large family and we hang out with his cousins often – One couple, the wife was in school, the husband worked full time with his own company and they had kids. I reached out to the wife and we talked and I explained to her that I wanted to embark on the school journey and I wanted to know how their family survived. How was she juggling all that stuff? She was very realistic and encouraging. So I talked to my husband and he was supportive. All 3 kids were going to be in school full time (Our youngest just started kindergarten) so I was running out of excuses. I always know when I’m going in the right direction because I feel at peace in my heart. I still battle in my mind, but my heart is at peace. And that’s how I felt!
So I enrolled in Fanshaw college in the Business Management and Entrepreneurship program. So I went. And yes, there were people in my class that hadn’t even turned 18 yet. But there were also people that were my age and older. When you are surrounded by like-minded people, age doesn’t matter. I felt like I belonged. FEAR will cripple you. It’s okay to be afraid, but that’s when you have to find your courage! I knew I would regret it if I didn’t try. What’s the worst that could happen? If I flunked out, or it didn’t click, or I hated it once we got started – I’d be exactly where I was before – No worse off. So what did I have to lose? On our first day in accounting class, the teacher asked us why we were there. I gave my answer and the whole class laughed ( I will not share my final goals in life yet) but I wasn’t offended because that’s the reaction that people give me all the time. This time around, I enjoyed being in school, I loved my classmate, the teachers, and our business coordinator were awesome. She could relate to us and went above and beyond for us when we needed her. They were there to encourage you to achieve your goals and my classmates shared that same mindset and drive and ambition. It was fun. I learn by doing and college gave me a better experience in terms of my learning structure. Did I love the tests, the drive to the Woodstock campus, writing essays, doing accounting? Nope, not one bit. I even got in a car accident driving home from school one snowy winter night and I still struggle with anxiety from it. I complained the entire two years but I loved it. I loved it for the simple reason that I was doing something that I enjoyed, I was surrounded by a great group that became my family for two years. I’m truly the happiest when my plate is full. It’s never too late to start over. Do what makes you happy, it will save you a lot of anguish.
Ok, that was a lot of setups, but we’re finally here – Game Knight!!! In my first year, we had to make up a fake company and write a business plan to get practice writing one. I wasn’t feeling the ‘fake company’ business plan. I didn’t want to put effort into something I wasn’t going to use. I went home and talked to Tristan about it and we started to brainstorm ideas. My husband always wanted to own a wargaming hobby shop but it was always a “one day wouldn’t it be nice?” kind of dream. We have been playing and board games with friends on a regular basis for several years. We had board game parties and we would drink, eat and be social. So we brainstormed combining these two passions – Board games and a wargaming hobby shop – To create a place that people could call home, make friends, learn games and have fun. We wanted to bring the same feeling of the board game nights we hosted at our home to our community. I spent a month writing our business plan. We added Warhammer, Dungeon and Dragons, Warcry, painting lessons, and several other games to cater to everyone and once it was done and we looked at the numbers, it was surprisingly viable. We just needed a name… We decided to call it Game Knight because it was a play on words for our game nights at our house, and medievals knights that Tristan loves (anything medieval and fantasy is his jam). Strangely enough, when we were trying to register our name we found out that there was a company in Alberta with the same name so we added “Leagues” to it – A main feature was regular weekly leagues, so it made sense to make it a part of our brand. We fell in love with that name and our logo, so it was decided! You might find other people or companies that have similar ideas to yours when you start doing market research but that shouldn’t scare you – You can put your own spin on it, bring a different perspective. There may be competition, but competition drives innovation and makes you better. Then we found the perfect location – Things just snowballed from there!
Here’s what our venue looked like BEFORE the renovations!
School tried to prepare us to run a business but I don’t think anything could have prepared us for what it like in reality. It sounds romantic in theory but it’s a lot of work and most of the time is chasing people. You are a slave to other people’s time, schedule, and sometimes their ways of doing things. We were supposed to start work on renovation in May but it got delayed till the end of June and that was disappointing because we wanted to open in August. We started to look for contractors but everything was so expensive – if we hired them then we would’ve blown through our budget. We decided that we would do the renovations ourselves. I was on summer break so it a bit easier but Tristan had to work his day job and go work on the renovations after hours. He’d work till 2 am some nights! And we did that for 4 months straight. Non-stop. Luckily we had help – Our team consisted of us (Tristan and me), mom, dad, and our kids, and some friends would show up to lend a hand for a few hours. Let me tell you, we have the best parents. They showed up every weekend. They are literally like Jack and Rebecca from this is us. Kind, selfless humans who are always there for their kids. They are literally our best friends and counselors. I’m pretty sure they think we are crazy but they still support us unconditionally. I used to have a hard time accepting help from people. I’ve always been independent and self-reliant and never wanted to take advantage of people so it’s really hard for me to accept help but I have learned that it’s okay to accept help. Sometimes we need it. We have been lucky with Game Knight, our customers have become our friends and they want to see us succeed – they are always offering to help. We met Keehan that way. He has been a great help in building terrain and tables for our wargaming leagues and events. If you ask me what’s the best part of Game Knight is, I’d say the love we put into it and the summer we spend doing the work with our parents. I love building things. I love the excitement and passion when you’re building a dream. I never want to lose that dream in me but owning your own business can make you do that lol. Tristan freaks out at the beginning and I always freak out when we have already jumped and are about to hit the pavement and that’s why I love our partnership.
During the renovations!
I said above that going into business with your friends isn’t always a good idea but your spouse can be tricky too. I remember our neighbor told us that her friend went into a business with her husband and that destroyed their relationship and I told her “We got this!” (we do). Like a new baby that comes into your life, your relationship is tested. We had to strip it to the core and rebuild it again. We are in new territory – we have different ideas but we have the same goals. The past year has been reconstructing ourselves as friends, parents, partners. If you have to embark on an adventure like this make sure that you have built a solid foundation. We managed to survive the renovation of Game Knight. In the ‘child’ metaphor, I call that the labor portion and so the next step was to give birth (our grand opening). We had a big booth at the London Comicon, then the following weekend we were launching Game Knight! I had a hernia surgery scheduled for a few months later, but I got a call the week before and they moved it up – So on top of school, Comicon, and our grand opening, I had surgery and couldn’t walk for a few days or do any heavy lifting! My brother-in-law and our good friend Alex stepped in and took over the Comicon event and Mom and dad took over with the kids. My teachers were great and pushed back my tests so I could heal. The birth of all our children has always been dramatic so Game Knight wasn’t any different. We made it to the opening and everything went smoothly… For 5 months … Then Rona came to town. So here we are! Game knight is 16 months old. It’s learning to walk with COVID lurking around still but we have survived and are very proud of it. We are about to reopen for the second time and hoping that we are done with lockdowns. My advice is to have a plan, but always be prepared to change that plan. Have faith, surround yourself with people that will support you, take time to relax, and tend to your mental health. It’s great to have goals and be ambitious but life isn’t a race – enjoy the process and have fun while you are building your dream. It’s okay to let people help you. If you are ever in London, Ontario, come check us out or follow us on Instagram and/or Facebook. We welcome everyone!
Covid Vacation 2020 was a very strange year. A year of weirdness – Almost a pause. Whatever you want to call it. We decided to call it our covid vacation. We started the year running Game Knight at full steam. I was in school full time and driving to Woodstock for my classes and Tristan was working his full-time day job – and we were both raising our 3 kids. We were busy but happy. We had a routine and mastered our routine. We thrive when we are busy and it forces us to be organized and use our time efficiently. Then Covid hit in March and the world started to shut down. Tristan’s office closed, the school closed, and we were forced to close Game Knight. I still had to finish school online, but other than that, we went from 100 miles an hour to almost full stop! Was I upset? Hell to the no. I loved finishing school online. I mean, I hated the video call portion. I hate video calls. I hate anything that forces me to be in video calls. I feel weird about it and I can’t really explain why. We freaked out for a second because we didn’t know what the future held for us and we were in limbo. So we decided to just roll with it. We cleaned the house, worked on home improvement projects, baked bread, watched Netflix, and all the shows we didn’t have time for before. Tristan was living his best life by playing video games till 6 in the morning. We had no structure and life was great until the kids started online school. That was the death of me. I learned I was never meant to be a teacher. I lack patience with teaching even my own children. My son immediately dislikes anything that takes him away from video games. I love that boy but every day was a battle with him. It didn’t change much during the second lockdown with online learning but I will say that the second time was much better organized – both our daughters were able to navigate the online portion by themselves.
COVID Vacation!
Tristan was laid off immediately when the first lockdown started. Then a couple of months later he was completely terminated. It hit him pretty hard. He kinda lost himself for a bit not knowing what would happen. It’s been a roller coaster of emotion but we got to spend time together and enjoy each other’s company. Now I know that I would definitely survive on a desert island with my husband and not murder him. I like him very much. Running a new business during the pandemic has been crazy but I really believe everything happens for a reason. So far we are surviving and hanging on (I will write about Game Knight soon). Hoping for the best. Hoping for the best is so freaking hard when everything is falling apart and you have to be positive all the time. But we embrace our emotions in this house. If something bad happens, we have one sad party in our house (that involves binge eating, laying around doing nothing and feeling sorry for ourselves, acknowledging our emotions, and feeling them). Then, we move on and hope for the best and fill our time. I find that’s the best way for us to process things in life – Pretending that a problem doesn’t exist and letting bad emotions build-up isn’t healthy for me, personally.
Anyways, the best part of the first lockdown was the documentary about Michael Jordan – The Last Dance- I jizzed all over that documentary. It was like eating all my favorite foods all at once. I got into fights with family members over who is the real GOAT between MJ and Lebron James and there were several periods of silent treatment after the arguments (We African people, and by “we”, I mean my family, have mastered ghosting in the name of pettiness). I love sports. I love to watch sports and I love to play sports. I don’t follow teams or players the way I used too but I will watch anything and everything that involves sports. Don’t come for me about my opinions because I will not change my mind.
Michael Jordan isn’t even someone that you put in the GOAT debate with all the other players because he belongs in his own category – Transcending the legacy of just a ‘player’. It’s not because he won six championships, technically Tom Brady just won 7. It’s the impact that he made in changing basketball into a global phenomenon in a time that social media didn’t exist and how he is still the one person that people compare the new athletes to. He is always the gold standard. He possesses that adorable arrogance that you still respect because he pushed himself and his teammates (some people miiiight call it bullying). He wasn’t pushing you around out of maliciousness, but to make you better. Would I succeed if Michael was my teammate? Probably! Don’t get me wrong, Lebron James is talented, but he hasn’t changed the game as Mike did. Garth Brooks sold more albums than Michael Jackson but Jackson still had a bigger impact in the world. There are those few, special superhumans that grace us with their presence and Michael Jeffrey Jordan is one of them. Fun fact, Michael Joseph Jackson and Michale Jeffrey Jordan both have the same initials. What in the gypsy magic is that all about?
By the way, I love Garth Brooks, and yes, I listen to everything. The Lebron James and the Tom Brady’s of our world never touch MJ. They are not that full package. Pure magic. Don’t say “Well he doesn’t do a lot of charity work!”. He isn’t obligated to tell us or broadcast what he does with his hard-earned money. I believe that he does contribute, privately. I love the mystery of MJ and that his life isn’t all over social media like new age celebrities. I also love his pettiness. Legendary.
Overall, I think the universe gave us covid to show us how fucked up we had become. It created an environment that emphasized our social and racial injustice, and forced us to slow down, and proved that we can’t control everything. I would call it a ‘cleansing’ but I don’t want to associate that word with people that actually died – I mean in a more philosophical and spiritual kind of way. I miss my extended families, my girlfriends, and people at Game Knight but I also have enjoyed this time and taking advantage of it to slow down and reinvent my fabulous self.
How are my goals going this week? Well, I’m proud of the consistency in my running ( I ran in -15 Celcius!). I complained in my head the whole time but I still went out and did it, so that’s progress! It’s becoming a habit! Definitely failed the social media goals and my reading goals are still in progress, but eating is going well. Overall I’m happy with my second week in this journey. See you next week
Ten years ago I started a blog when I had my first daughter, Addison, and I wanted to create some sort of journal about motherhood. One of my sisters found one of my video blogs and suggested that I should try doing it again. I thought about it and said to myself, “Why not!?”. I wanted to make a journal about my weight loss journey but decided to just write about random stuff that I feel like talking about.
I would like to reintroduce myself. My name is Patience. I’m married with 3 children. We recently gave birth to our 4th child – It’s our first business venture called Game Knight Leagues. This baby is only a year old and just learning to walk.
This week I wanted to focus on my weight journey. I Have gained 50 pounds in the last 3 years. I used to blame it on weight gain during my pregnancies, but I wasn’t pregnant at that time so I can’t blame it on that. For the last 3 years, I have been feeling a little lost and looking for my purpose – my passion. I went back to school for Business and we opened a new business while raising 3 kids and working during the day. I have tried fasting, working out like crazy, low carb diets … I love healthy food and sports so I figured it would be easy to lose weight. I talked to my doctor, tried acupuncture, I even tried hypnosis. Recently, something clicked in my mind; Why am I trying the hard way? Why am I starving myself and working out so intensely? I should preface that when I shop, I only buy clothes in the size that I used to be to motivate myself to get back to that weight. Yes, that means I have an entire closet of clothes that don’t fit me. Yes, that might sound insane … And it could be true, but I have learned to embrace myself, my insanity, my crazy, and whatever other titles people like to give me because I’m all those things and I love it. I see my traits in my children every day, and that’s had a weird effect of causing me to fall madly in love with myself because I love my kids so much and they’re me! I love myself and that means loving my flaws, too. Yes, I will ramble and change the subject randomly but that’s just me and that’s why this blog is called “randoms”.
Let’s get back to my epiphany. I decided to be kind myself and start over in my weight loss journey. I will fail countless times and cry but I will always get back on my feet and try one more time until I succeed. I gave myself goals for the month of February 2021. For 28 days I will try to accomplish my goals. I say try because I will not force myself to do it but I will try my best, one day at a time. I gave myself 10 months to lose 50lbs. Here is the list of my goals:
-My husband and I used to go to the gym together every morning before lockdown. So when I mentioned running every day he wanted to join and I said “no” because he wants to be the coach and encourage me and pushes me and that shit annoys me lol. I’m a team player but running for me is a personal experience. I feel like I’m slowing him down, I have to perform and feel judged when I stop to take a breather. Let’s get back to the goal: running 1.2 km every morning.
My workouts
– Eating 3 meals a day plus snacks( no cutting carbs)
– Drinking 4 bottles of water a day but so far I can only do 2 and a half bottles of 24 oz cuz that shit is harder than running.
My night snacks!
– Read 2 books in the month of February but I only have read 19 pages in 3 days.
– Give up social media. This one is hard. I tried but still working on that because Tik Tok is super addictive.
– Removing people that don’t uplift me
– Eating more fiber
– Exercise every day
– Stretch every day
– Meditate for 5 minutes a day. This one has been hard too for the simple reason that I cannot shut my mind down
– Wash my face twice a day.
If you know me then you know that I’m a bootleg girl. I will say that I have succeeded so far in running every day and I still stop but every day I push myself to continue to run past where I stopped the day before. Feeding my body with good nutrients is something that’s working well too. I have decided not to check my weight progress on the scale because it literally kills my mood so I’m relying on how I feel instead to keep motivating me to continue on this journey.
I made a video of what I eat at night – I’m a night eater so I decided to preemptively make healthy snacks containing just fruits and vegetables. I made myself a bowl of apples and some steamed kale (that shit is nasty). I made myself a glass of pure ginger juice (helps with inflammation), I add celery, carrots, an apple, or mango to minimize the burning of the ginger. Word of caution is that I fart non stop but with time it did get better. Hope that your family, friends, or roommates love you enough to endure that nasty smell because mine do. Another tip to eating steamed kale is mixing it with grapes or jerky meat. Sometimes I bake sweet potatoes and sprinkle with marshmallows – by sprinkle I mean a lot. I don’t want to deprive myself of the food that I enjoy. I want to lose weight on my own terms so I’m not stressed out. Being stressed doesn’t help you lose weight. 2021 for me is a year of “no fucks” given. Well, as much “no fucks” you can manage because as a mother you kind of have some obligations.
I’m rebuilding myself and that’s what life’s all about. Rediscovering oneself, relearning who you are at every stage. I’m embracing this self. My overall goal for this year is to run a 5k with my ride or die Tristan. I don’t really believe in the dying part but Bill Clinton to my Hilary, my Jason to my Carly, or my Gayle to my Oprah (Oprah is on a timeout for disrespecting my Michael Jackson) so let’s say my Scottie Pippen to Michael Jordan. See you next week.
