Fierce Forty

I AM…Woman… I AM

… Then it was that I was forty-years-old.. I had waited with great anticipation about becoming a forty-year-old woman… I envisioned a great big birthday party celebration. Alas, it was not meant to be so… …Instead, there were the barriers of COVID-19 which meant that my celebration would be nothing like I envisioned… still it taught me a lesson, to not lament over what could have been, nor even what should have been but instead, embrace and immerse in what is. The BIG party did not happen. However, my husband, children and siblings showed up BIG!

I reflected on a seventeen-year-old teenage girl, who was ready to take on the world. She had a plan for her life. Goals were set and she was ready to not only reach for them but to grasp them into her hands. She was determined. Even though she did not know exactly how she would get there, she was confident she would.

Now, at forty she stood in the same dress she did, many years ago, as a seventeen-year-old, not to prove that she could fit in the dress.. Nah, that would be too trivial of a win.. Instead, it was to remind herself of the plan she had, the plan that was no longer a plan but her life. Goals that were no longer just set but, instead, goals reached and many more in her grasp. ….

…I have them in my hands.. Standing in the dress represented me standing in the plan, standing in the goals.. I made something of my life. It has not been an easy road for me. .. . Yet, I thank my seventeen-year-old self for believing in herself. I celebrate my forty-year-old self for not disappointing her.

I have learned many lessons, the one I want to highlight is that success is what you define it to be. Let no one dictate the course of your life for you. Neither should you allow any institution.. some of you will understand that last statement better than others.

I walked into forty desiring to keep and develop more right relationships.

Fully embracing the fact that I am ROYAL! Yes, I am a QUEEN!

Standing in my womanhood, strong and proud! I am woman!

Hearing the echoes of my ancestors. The chants from their battles. I stand firm with my fist high, I am a BLACK woman!

I will dance when no one is watching and while everyone is watching because I am me.

I will not be afraid to love all that makes me woman, my profession, my faith

MY

THREE

CHILDREN

MY HUSBAND

My BODY

… Then it was that I was forty years old….I am determined to be Fierce Forty with a Force! I am WOMAN!.. ah yes, the U in my foUrty is for Unique!