Just Sitting Here Thinking

Just sitting here thinking.

Fifty-six (56) years ago today, I married my college sweetheart. Fifty-six (56) years later, I have been divorced forty-five (45) years. However, I am NOT COMPLAINING; I am just recognizing my past and my history.

Four successful adult children, seventeen absolutely wonderful grandchildren, and almost (one is on the way in the next few months) fourteen (14) great-grandchildren.

Successful retirement from jobs, political career, and public life, with a community and advocacy program that helps others through some of what I have had to live through -- racism, divorce, limited finances, networking, loving and being loved friendships, and so much more.

Just meeting those everyday needs can be traumatic, but you learn to get through them with family, friends, and, yes, those button-pushers. (NOTE: Button-pusher can make all the difference in the world. They tend to propel you forward when you are ready to give up. And, sometimes, they become your friends and your motivators)

My life has never been a bed of roses without thorns, but my rose petals have always been many, and my thorns far and in between.

My path forward has always been filled with haters, doubters, pushers, supporters, and a whole lot of mentors who stood there saying, "Yes, you can do this," or "Yes, you got this," or even "Girl, you need to take a break!"

Thanks to my mother, Florence Henrietta Brown Williams, I was raised tough, strong, spiritual, self-assured, and downright bold. She would never back down and would not allow me to back down. Her words always rang out: "There's more than one way to skin a cat, so figure it out!" A lesson learned and used all of my adult life -- figure it out and get it DONE!. Seems simple, but oh, the work that goes into all of that.

Sometimes, it takes the hard times to push you to your full potential. My divorce forced me to go back to school. Forced me to learn new things. Forced me to become a provider, and yes, it forced me to become independent.

Regrets, I have a few, but too few mention (old blue eyes). I've lost a few battles but won a lot more. I have walked a mile in my own shoes and the shoes of others. Those walks taught big lessons - humility, never crying in public (cry, and you cry alone, laugh, and the world laughs with you and sometimes at you), and when you make it, everyone is there to remind you of how they helped you get there, and when you can't help them, you become the enemy or the "success has gone to her head, and she only used you to get ahead!"

No, I'm still not complaining, but I'm remembering my journey- a journey I am so thankful for and is NOT OVER YET. I am excited and anticipating another forty or so more years to see what else I can get into.