walk with me...
while talking with one of the la homies (who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent) a few nights ago the question came up...can you name your top life memories...those points in life where it just seemed like for a few seconds, hours, or maybe even the whole day, you were on top of the world...we didn’t get far into the list before the party got broken up, but it did get me to thinking...and while i thought through those times in life i couldn’t help but smile...so i decided to jot a few of them down...and after doing so i decided that i’d like to share them with you in my favorite arena...the blog (yup, imma make it seem like this was all my idea)...in these times where we tend to find ourselves caught up in the minuscule manure life hast to offer, it's nice to pause for a moment and remember those times that really make life worth living...so please...walk with me for a second...before i get started i’d like to thank any of you that helped make any of these memories possible...
- summer 1994...the 1st time in my life i realized that being black and intelligent was not only acceptable but was actually cool in some segments of the population...
- dec 17 1999 college graduation...and feeling like my days of being poor were over forever...
- miami memorial day 2003 my first vip experience...bottles popping random lap dances...realizing that this is what all the hard work was for...
- the night i found the set at fam during freshmen orientation...turned into a week long collar popping festival...dipping back to the room with pockets full of 4 digit numbers...
- one random friday about 7 weeks into my first semester at fam i got a calculus test back that i had set the curve on...it was then that i realized that college wasn't as hard as everybody had told me and that i could prolly pull it off...
- feb-mar 1998...the first time i met adult love...which surprisingly was way better than jun 1989 when i met sex...
- talking with pops about how i was "dating" twins in 3rd grade...
- the moment you realize you've made a new friend...
- standing for my high school “head band”graduation speech...
- 1st runner up mr housing in 95...and seeing everybody boo the winner and walk out cuz they thought i should've won... and i still think i got shafted in the mr magic joint...
- getting crowd love after freestyling on stage at the ll cool j homecoming concert in 96 after the 3 cats ahead of me got boo'ed...
- getting crowd love (even from kid capri and a pre fame jay z) after freestyling in a crowded hotel lobby in miami at the “how can i be down” conf in 96
- hearing myself on the radio rapping for the first...96...i was a rapping azz dude back then... "ladies and gents cleanse your ears so you can hear me, it's the 3rd episode of the college cool out series..."shout out to kookieman.com
- that first slow dance back in 90...that is correct i got some booty before i ever had my first slow dance...
- anytime a friend opens up to me for the 1st time... no you're not talking my ear off...
- anytime a blog follower tells me what made them laugh...
- anytime i've realized that somebody i like, likes me back...84 - pres
- the feeling i get anytime i realize i've come up with the perfect gift...
- receiving the perfect gift...impulsive buyers are hard to shop for...last one was prolly 06 though...
- anytime i go back and read the messages in my old yearbooks...
- sitting up and listening to my grandfather tell stories...86 - 03...
- being that ish talking spades player back in gibbs hall 95..."go ahead and put your ___ away cuz you can't ___ with this"
- buying my first bottle of henn...1999
- buying my first bottle of henn in a club...2004..wasn't really henn though...
- buying my first bottle of henn in a club and not thinking about it for weeks later...2007
- when my pops use to show up and dance in me an my sisters bedroom door in his draws 1984...hilarious
- holding a dating clinic for 14 chicks in the lobby of mc/dia valentines day 96... i started that "he's really not that into you" stuff...
- the going away party in cincy mar 06... so much love...
- the bday extravaganzicificatiotarinorium mar 07 ...again...so much love...
- the french fry/frosty dares in 97...you could've just asked me to come over...
- hearing a song (especially an older one) and having the lyrics make sense to me for the 1st time due to life experiences...
now my challenge to you...take a minute and reply/comment back with your top 5 or 10...i would say you could just write them down on your own but i'm not really sure i can trust you to do that without me looking over your shoulder...
2 comments:
Ah, the interactivity of the internet. I'll take the baton. In my best effort to recall chronologically, here goes...
- circa '86: Having my family watch intently as I acted out my one man version of The Wizard of Oz
- circa '87: Being the first kid around with a Nintendo...like the first Nintendo...with R.O.B.
- circa '94: Being the dude with all the local rap music. In those days, you had to write your name on your CD's and get some collateral before you let somebody borrow your sh*t.
- circa '95: First love
- circa '95: Ensuring I'm not the last dude amongst my peeps to truthfully be able to say my innocence was lost.
- circa '96: My soccer team winning the state championship. Man, I used to be in shape for real.
- circa '97: The last few weeks of senior year in high school...realizing that the only way I won't graduate is if I urinate on the principal, Porky's-like antics on the senior trip, having the family (including my cancer stricken grandmother) get super crunk at my 90% white graduation when they called my name.
- circa '97: Meeting friends at Howard
- circa '97: Being the dude in the dorm to come see if you wanted a tutorial in NBA Live, Madden, or Spades
- circa '98: Being able to describe one of the coldest chicks on campus when asked about my girlfriend...and then saying, "Yea, one of the twins."
- circa '01: Being kidnapped by my boys and going to Atlantic City for my 21st birthday
- circa '02 - '05: Graduating, getting a job, and realizing I'm more responsible than I thought...and realizing I'm ready to carry this responsibility and share it with the youth. There's also some partying, MIA, Rio, first car, first house, and a plethra of other greats in there post job-dom. Money isn't everything...but it's something.
- circa '06: Realizing I'm not a big fan of going away parties.
- circa '06: Publicly rolling the dice emotionally (and financially) and having my wife-to-be say "Yes"
- circa '06: Celebrating the engagement with all the family and friends...my pops even made a cameo.
- circa '07: The homies showing much love for the MIA bachelor party. A pony ride is probably about the only thing that would've made it better.
- circa '07: Looking out at all the faces that left the country to help celebrate the marriage and realizing how precious friends and family are.
- circa '07: Looking at this point in life, loving the memories and realizing the wide scope of the future.
Wow Mike, you always know how to make me laugh and you are prone for interaction…I love it, Please save me from Cinci man…throw me a lifesaver-also known as a new job in a different city….anyway, back to why I’m actually supposed to be typing this:
• ’84 Bushnell PreSchool in Detroit-I was doing it up real big even back then and didn’t realize it, had the friends, the family, the bomb teachers, fun field trips, learned to swim and had the lead role in the plays-Yes ladies and gents I was a star in the making even back then!
• My old “Let’s bring back the Black Panther Party” movement during High School ’96-‘98-I swear I could have gotten at least 30 people to join me…D’Militant #2
• Realizing I had the gift of creativity and winning competitions and scholarships for poetry-especially the all expense paid trips to NAACP National Convention to compete in 96 and 97
• 90-2004 Basketball and Track Teams-Nothing like having teams to bond with and respect from people at your school for being good-being a team captain and getting gifts from a team captain in class when I wasn’t= Good Times!. From playing summer ball in Canada to State Quarterfinalists my senior year of HS
(Junior year-the birth of “Sta-Dogg and the barks from my crazy a** friends and family in the crowd-they even had the white people calling me that and doing it-Pure comedy I tell you), FAMU women’s Intramural Basketball Champions and 2nd place and my Track Team winning states (and just about everything else indoor and outdoor) the entire time I ran for Coach Westfield and having our Team ranked #4 in the nation-It’s good to be at the top
• ’97 Black College Tour-The laughs to last a lifetime with those clowns on that trip. Mich-> Florida->South Carolina-> Mich a hilarious bus ride! My first glimpse of FAMU and my immediate decision that that was where I was going to go
• ’98 Jack and Jill Debutante Ball-Will never forget that experience it was one of the best in my life.
• ’98 Teen Reporter on FM98-WJLB Detroit-My first foray into entertainment
• ’98 Graduating High School and having FAMU on top of my Cap thinking that holding it down in SBI and getting that MBA was going to send me into good money orbit, especially since we got word that the current SBI graduates were making 6 figures out the door
• Fall ’98 moving over 1,000 miles away from home into Polkinghorne Village and feeling “grown” since I was on my own at college not living in a dorm but still on campus and had some friends come too…(KT and Liz held me down)
• Fall ’98 Walking across the Bragg Stadium Parking lot from Polkinghorne to the GC for class and ending up meeting my first real love….
• ’98-’04 Kicking it with my people male and female at College-trips, parties, games, homecoming, events, step shows, internships, roommates-Dang I miss college!
• ’98-’04 Michigan Club at FAMU-Everybody knows we were the livest state club…Enough said
• ’02 my 22nd birthday in New York on Internship-my Pfizer intern crew did it up real big with me, we had a ball
• ’04 my last Spring Break in Puerto Rico with the Girls…I need to go to another Caribbean destination-I love blue water
• Fall ’04 Finally walking across the stage with honors and a Masters Hood thinking “ I made it, look out world here I come-somebody cut the check”
• ’06 finally crossing the sands into DELTA LAND!!!
• Today- realizing how blessed I am by getting the opportunity to look back over the past and see how good things have been for me and realizing that storms don’t last always and neither will the one I’m in the midst of now-Thanks Mike for giving me the ability to share at least a few of my good memories with you-Miss You Man!
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