“Childhood Memories to Lifetime Blessings”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2yzrAXhLyw

My best memories of the younger days are those that begin when I was in high school and discovered the love of my life.  I was fifteen at the time and in the 10^th grade when I was introduced to Terrell Hendrix, my future husband at that time.  My sister introduced us because he was a relative of the man she was dating and she thought he was a good person.

I agree, after meeting him and spending time with him, I discovered that he was genuinely a good person.  He is warm and loving, respectful and trustworthy.  I sought of encountered a problem during the initial courtship with my mom.  My mom is “old school” and she thought that I was too young to date outright.  We discussed the situation and she told me that when I turned 16 that I could receive company on a supervised basis.

On my 16^th birthday, my mom gave me a surprise birthday party and to my surprise Terrell was my surprise guest.  I had no idea of the party and that he would be there.  I was overjoyed.  The party was wonderful and my mom got the chance to spend some time with Terrell and observe his behavior and interaction with others.  He passed with flying colors.  The following week, she asked me if I wanted him to come over to the house for a couple of hours and you know my answer was YES!  She called his parents and introduced herself and asked them if it was alright for him to come spend a couple of hours at our house and she would be responsible for picking him up and dropping him back off at home.  They agreed and that was the doorway of a lasting relationship.

We enjoyed many occasions together during school and summer vacation.  Our parents were very involved in our lives, they set the rules and we all agreed to the terms.  Terrell was an athlete in high school, football and baseball were his favorite sports, and his parents were more involved in that area than my mom.  They made sure that I attended all his athletic events.  He excelled in both during high school and received a baseball scholarship for college. 

Since I am 8 months older than he is, I graduated in 2005 from high school but he had another year of school to complete. Nothing changed between us after graduation, I continued to support him and attend all his athletic events although I was a freshman in college.  The bond we shared strengthened with each passing day.  From childhood memories to blessings, we are still together and have been happily married for 4 years.

I wished I lived...

Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Brittani, who always wished that she was a princess that lives in a beautiful castle or a rich kid that live in a mansion.  But as the story goes there was a lesson to be learned.  The lesson that I learned is that there is quite a bit of difference between fantasy and reality.  As I grew older, I learned an even greater lesson that if you challenge a fantasy to become a dream you have options to make that dream come true. 

From my many travels to other cities and states, there is one placed that I wished I lived.  During my middle school days, I was fortunate to visit New York and New Jersey.  With all the “hype” about the “Big Apple” and its neighboring state, I was not impressed.  Although the trip in itself was very enjoyable and entertaining I did not want to live in either place.  Later on in high school, I was a member of the “Blue and Gray” marching band and we were invited to perform in Washington, DC.  Now this is an impressive state with lots of historic monuments, the capital of the United States, the Supreme Court building, Bush Gardens and many, many other places to visit and things to do.

I have an uncle that lives in nearby Fredericksburg and his neighborhood is somewhat similar to the neighborhood where I live in Starkville.  You can socialize with your neighbors, leave home without fear of home invasion and it’s a good place to raise a family.  Now Washington, DC or Fredericksburg is a place where I wished I lived.  It has a lot of opportunities for education, employment and happiness for family life. 

I will have another opportunity to return to DC this summer for our family reunion but this time I will be taking my family with me to see if my husband feels as I do about moving to Washington.  After he has had the experience of touring and observing what it has to offer we will discuss the idea of making this dream become a reality.

A SONG can tell so much!

SECRET LOVERS by ATLANTIC STAR

I don’t really have a favorite song that I sing all the time, except maybe the songs on the cartoons that my son watches on Nick Jr.  Secret Lovers is really more about my mom and dad and how they met and fell in love.

My mom told me about this years ago when I was younger and I have always like the way the story about their romance and this being both their favorite songs.  My mom and dad were both involved with other people when they first discovered that they were romantically interested in each other.  They were classmates in high school and never had any interest in each other except for friends.  Several years after they graduated, about 10 or more, my mom divorced her first husband and moved into the same neighborhood as my dad.  Not knowing that he lived there until the day she was moving in and he offered to help her get all her stuff upstairs in the apartment complex. 

After she got back in the game of dating, she was involved in another relationship with one of his friends and he, at that time, was married to one of her friends, she began to see my father in a different perspective.  I guess because they were socializing as couples which made the difference. 

I guess one thing lead to another and the relationship started to grow and they started seeing each other “undercover” as you would say.  The first two stanzas of that song described their relationship exactly. [click here Song...Secret Lovers to hear/see the song]

Here we are, the two of us together
Taking this crazy chance to be all alone
We both know that we should not be together
'Cause if they found out, it could mess up
Both our happy homes

I hate to think about us all meeting up together
'Cause soon as I looked at you, it would show on my face, yeah
Then they'll know that we've been loving each other
We can never no, no, no, no, we can't leave a trace

How could something so wrong be so right?
I wish we didn't have to keep our love out of sight, yeah
Living two lives, just ain't easy at all
But we gotta hang on and after fall

Secret lovers, yeah that's what we are
Trying so hard to hide the way we feel
'Cause we both belong to someone else
But we can't let it go 'cause what we feel
Is, oh so real, so real, so real

Secret lovers, yeah, that's what we are
We shouldn't be together but we can't let it go
'Cause what we feel is, oh so real
So real, so real, so real, so rea

l

I have often heard of couples having favorite songs to express their love but nothing as extreme as this but from this song came me which is the best thing of all but the relationship did not last, my parents are now going in different directions.  My mom is single again and loving it and my dad has remarried but he is not very happy.

Take me as I am!

I am a 25 year old mother of 2 adorable children and married to the best man in the world. I am trying to finish up my education that was postponed because of the birth of my son, Tyreq, age 4 years. Having a full family to provide for takes a lot of dedication on my part and that of my husband. When my son was born I dropped out of MSU to take care of him and my husband attended a junior college where he was given a scholarship in baseball.

I had to also give up my apartment because I was unable to work during that time and moved back in with my mom. She was and still is a tremendous help to me during this time. After my husband finished his 2 years at Community College, he decided to drop out and not continue his education at West Alabama on another baseball scholarship to find employment to help out with the bills and for us to try to get a place of our own.

Our lives together started out at a disadvantage but as time passed I went back to work and he found a part-time job, we were able to move into our own apartment once again. I am taking classes online and trying to further my education at a slow pace so that I do not become overwhelmed by taking care of a family, working and taking care of myself.

In October, 2011, I gave birth to a baby girl, Khloe. She is the most amazing baby that I have ever seen in my lifetime. At the age of 4 months, she has cut a tooth, can get down out of her chair, hold her bottle and pacifier and is very attentive. She enjoys conversation. I have to make sure that we engage in a hourly conversation at least 3 to four times a day to keep her satisfied and content. She was able to hold her head up without support when she was first born.

Life is a journey and I’m up for the ride!

Instead of look back on my past, I tend to follow the "light" which guides me to a better future!