All So New

After grad school ended I had planned on going from renting to owning. In 2015 the housing market changed so much I couldn't afford to buy a home. The two-bedroom apartment I was paying under market would be my home. In April 2025 my landlord said the duplex I've called home for 10 years was up for sale. I KNOW anyone who would own this place would raise rent. I knew I'd have to move. As luck would have it a friend who owns a few rental properties told me of a condo nearby would on the market that afternoon and it's an estate sale well under market. I called my Realtor and asked him to look into it. Again, luck or angels were with me. Bill found a credit union with a no money down first-time buyer's mortgage. I applied and was qualified. We made an offer on the condo & after short negotiation my bid was accepted. Without more details I'm now a homeowner!! At 62 it's about time #firsttimehomeowner #wiltonmanors

I Believe in unicorns

The prettiest womyn I know is my awsome girlfriend, Carvelle. She's a bold Black Transgender Womyn Before we met she started her own busniness: a bicyle shop. Who knew this special person would open a "man's only business" but she did.

Sept 21st was "A Day With HIV" an anual sharing of personal images with stories for those of us living with HIV. Add that I'm a minister I choose to share this image #adaywithhiv

Keeping up

I deal with memory issues so I'll try to say something here each day. By writing in my journal it'll help me remember to write at least once a day something not work related

Patients Please

"Please Be Really Patient with yourself" I read this on a differant blog and wow did it resonate with me. I often have great expecations from myself and though I know I'm slowing down and can't do as much as I did when I was in my 20's or 30's at my current age of 60 keeping patients with myself is important. How do you deal with patients?

Getting There

 A week ago I took a brief visit to Chicago to see family 

We haven't seen each other in person for such time. Being the youngest of five siblings its important for me to be with  Mom and my sisters and brothers.  I flew into and out of Chicago O'Hare airport and there is a light rail train that gets people to all the terminals

It links people together as much as my visit with family

What links you together with whats important?

No Waiting

 What are you waiting for? Why are you waiting for something to happen? What's keeping you from making something happen?

No more delays. Opportunity doesn't knock twice. And since it's at your door right now, take advantage of it...NOW!

Outside the Circle

 How many times have you heard "Think outside the box?"   I know it's a phrase often used to inspire new thinking.  Look beyond the boarder is another way to say the same thing.  I particular like " reach beyond your circle.  

Circles have power! There's the Circle of Life.  Circle the wagons.  Will the Circle be unbroken.

I tend to live in a circle not a box. All around me are friends, neighbors, work mates, family. We 'circle' around each other in our interactions.  

I'm asking you to reach outside your Circle and expand something. Expand knowledge, awareness, abilities.   Can you wrap your thoughts around this?

Kind Gesture

 I started this blog due to reading and hearing so much non affirming messages we/I hear from the news and Facebook, Instagram, etc.  

As angry as I am at the current situation in the USA with legal changes that I don't agree with I'm reminding myself and the readers, you, that staying kind will help keep situations in proportion.

A kind thought and a kind word can mean so much. Start with kind thoughts and the rest will blossom

What are you doing to remain kind? 

Never Mind

 Those of us who remember Gilda Radner on Saturday Night Live when she portrayed Emil Latilla who who say some thing that to her seemed way wrong. Chevy Chase would tell her that she got the concept wrong and would end the skit by saying "Nevermind" 

Example this is about "Violins on television"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZLeaSWY37I

Right now as the USA becomes more divided and sides being taken are drawn with thick lines it's easy to lash out and comment on social media. Getting into an argument on these platforms won't settle a problem. It only infuriates people and nothing changes.

I'd rather take action when I vote than scream out online.  This is one of those times to say "Nevermind" to people who won't think beyond the hate

Doing Change

 “What are you doing now that you would like to change?   That's a question I heard in a meeting today and that got me to think, just what am I doing?   

I spoke on this exact topic years ago. Change can be hard since we/I prefer something constant.

Regardless change is inevitable.  Currently I'm looking to  purchase a home. I've been a renter for my entire adult life.  The prospect of home ownership and all that goes with it has me a bit frightened. Still I look and will be a home owner. That will bring a new set of challenges and changes.

What are YOU doing now that you would like to change?

 

TV Is Not Life

 While watching "This Is Us" during an emotional moment I felt sad for my life.  These characters are so connected and so real I felt as I'm missing out on that or something like that TV family.

Then it hit me that there are a team of writers, a collection of actors PLAYING real people. 

I do have real people to talk with, one person who I care about yet still here I was feeling sorry for myself that I'm not like a TV family.   That realization hit me hard!  I returned to one of my mantra's about loving myself "I am loved and capable"

Do you sometimes feel lost in that other dimension like TV?  Life is not a TV show

HoliDay

 To many people this is Christmas time. Officially (meaning according to Church calendars were in Advent time) and that means we/I do my best to be my best.  That is what I try to do everyday so it's always Christmas time for me. 

Regardless, it's fair to create that new feeling of love for all folx. Peace on Earth and goodwill too

We're being low key this holiday what about you?

words have power

Words have meaning!  On World AIDS Day, Dec 1st we/I think about how far I've come. I recall the friends, co workers and others who succumomed to this plague.  I also celebrate the future where proper care can keep me alive.  Lets speak our truths and break stigma by not using labels/terms such as "not clean" or "UB2."  Words have Power.  

Prepare for It

 I read in a column a friend writes "The future belongs to those who prepare for it." He's quoting Malcom X

Truer words were never spoken, even later in my life. I only started to earn money through trading stocks. It wasn't until my very late 40s actually.  I didn't enter the market willy nilly but after reading and researching.  I PREPARED for a future.  There's not a lot of money in stocks but enough to enjoy what I do have and will in the future.

Prepare for it, the future that is can appear daunting and when the future is uncertain it may seem futile, still I'll plan for what will be.

Do you prepare for your future?

Focus on Goals

 My job changed at work a few months ago.  Needing state certification to actually begin at my new role I needed updated training, too. It's taken MONTHS and now that classes, all six are done I need to 'shadow' a person with experience.  Backstory: I've done this job before it's that certification lapsed thus retraining as if it's  square one.  

At times I thought of  giving up, giving in and finding a new career but I realized that I had a goal to meet

I'm back to focusing on the goal and not the path or road to that goal

Does this resonate with you?

Your Best

 In my line of work there is bound to be errors.  FYI the best way to describe my work is in the social services field.  There are things we/I need to be meticulous about such as record keeping. It's the interactions with people that sometimes miscommunication happens. It's the not fully hearing a clients needs for angst.  

Regardless I do my best. I try to explain to clients that I am human with frailties. I still give it my all and do my best.

Realizing that no one is a machine we/I need to see differences and work with those.

Speech has power

What I say impacts my actions.  Do I/We think before speaking and acting?   I know that I've said things and acted what I've said.  I really hope I say only things that  speak uplifting thoughts and thus actions

 Speech has power. Words do not fade. What starts out as a sound, ends in a deed.

Abraham Joshua Herschel

Should?

 Whenever I used the word “should” when talking to myself, it was motivated by a lack of self-acceptance rather than encouragement. Some years ago I heard a wise person say "Please don't should on me." Should is a directive, not as encouraging as I prefer.

Can we share less should please?

 One overarching strategy for dealing with the experience of intense uncertainty is to do whatever you can to bring yourself back to the world of the finite – to things as they actually are in your own concrete world, and the concrete things you can control.

How do you work with this feeling?