It’s my birthday weekend!
After a few back to back years of fairly big celebrations, I am taking the weekend to just relax. It has been a pretty rough first half of 2017–shockingly rough, I’d say–but my exits have turned to entrances [to paraphrase my new job’s slogan].
First, regular readers of my blog may remember that I was planning a major trip to London. Well, pneumonia and bronchitis decided that wasn’t going to happen. I was pretty sick for a pretty long time. In February and March, I was just feeling run-down and dealing with a dry cough. At the end of March, during the Alpha Phi Alpha Eastern Region Convention, my body gave up and said “Boy stop, you sick.” I left the convention a little early (it was in Northern Virginia and I was commuting) and took the rest of the weekend to rest.
I thought I was well enough to return to work that Monday. Took a Dayquil and powered through. My boss looked at me at 1pm and told me to go home. I went to urgent care instead, and they told me I had my same-old same-old: an upper respiratory infection. Rest, drink fluids, etc.
That one day home turned into two weeks off from work, off and on, leading into our two week Spring Break. As I got closer and closer to my departure date, it seemed I just wasn’t getting better and my cough was getting worse. The diagnoses as time went on were bronchitis, then pneumonia. Luckily, it never got any worse, but I was visiting urgent care every few days by week four.
There was one day where I felt I was on so many drugs that I just needed a break to see which among them were really working. Well, that was the day I began feeling better. By Sunday before the end of our Spring Break, I was ready to work.
In the middle of all this, I was in the application process for a new job. I thought for sure that with each round, they would think I was too sickly to work there. But lo and behold, they chose me! I will be a founding teacher at what is going to be an awesome public charter school for 14-21 year olds. I’m looking forward to doing great work with them.
I’ve been back into comic books for a few years now, but in earnest since the DC Rebirth. I just finished a mini series called “The Button” which takes place in Batman and The Flash. It was extremely well-written and emotional.
When I read “The Button” it made me reflect on a lot of things that my friends have been going through right along with me. These pivotal moments in time, shared between heroes, have implications for those who assist us, those who love us, and even those who are against us.
There will be artifacts from these moments in our lives…a class ring, perhaps. A scrap of paper. A work uniform. If you touch them, you can practically feel the vibration of that former life.
But that’s history.
My website is in disarray–I know. I am usually much better about upkeep. Blame it on 2017. But please know that during the brief period of time I have between the end of my current job and the start of my new one, I am taking time to transform my vision board into a to-do list.
I really, truly enjoy being busy. But I also have to take time for myself. Being so sick taught me a lot about what’s important. My work in the community is important, but so are my artistic endeavors. I need to create time to create. But it’s not just time. It’s space, literally and figuratively.
The second part of 2017 will be dramatically better than the first. Here are some sneak previews:
- Writing an important personal piece.
- Taking on photography projects that are special to me.
- Being intentional about my identity as a creator.
But I’m not going to punish myself if the timeline isn’t quick. It doesn’t have to be quick for it to be good.
I love you all for hanging in there with me. Stay tuned.