BLOG – NICOLE S. ARNOLD

My F.U.P.A. is a Fibroid

February 18, 2019 No Comments

My uterus is under attack. This is me every month:

I don’t know exactly when this fibroid initially began to take over my uterus. I had been on birth control pills for a gazillion years up until September of 2016 when I developed a DVT aka a blood clot in my right calf. So I traded my oral contraceptive for blood thinners which caused me to have the menstrual cycle from hell, or at least I thought they did. Could it have been that my uterus was already under attack by the fibroid? I don’t know because I was about 50 pounds heavier, and to me, that lower belly pooch was nothing more than my F.U.P.A. In the spring of 2017, I went to my gynecologist, and she noticed the fibroid. At that time she didn’t order an ultrasound because we really did not know the extent to which it was bothering me. Remember, my body had either been doped up on contraceptives or anti-coagulants up to that point, so what was normal menstrual behavior was unknown. I left the doctor with a new method of contraception and pushed the fibroid to the back of my mind.

WEIGHT LOSS REVELATION

In the summer of 2017, I decided to take back my health and fitness and joined Weight Watchers and started going back to the gym. This was not my first time on this weight loss journey, but I decided that this would be the last time I started over. I began working out three to five days a week and tracking what I was eating. Unlike years past, I didn’t allow myself to fall completely off the bandwagon when I had a cheat meal or two. I had begun to develop discipline and consistency that was allowing me to see steady, sustainable weight loss. By the spring of 2018, I decided that I was over my new form of birth control because I started to have the worst cramps ever. Therefore, I made an appointment with my doctor to remove the IUD and just let my body be natural. By then, I was probably about 30 pounds into my weight loss journey. At this appointment, my doctor felt the fibroid again and told me to monitor my symptoms during my cycle over the next few months to determine if my fibroid was actually interfering with my life. If indeed it was, we could decide what the next steps would be during my annual exam that summer.

I returned to my beloved OB/GYN on July 31, 2018. I was 40 pounds lighter than when I started my journey the previous June. I was extremely more fit and toned than I had been during my visit that spring which made the ten pound difference seem much more significant.

“Hey, skinny,” my doctor greeted me. We chatted for a bit and then she began to conduct her exam. It was then that she realized how massive the invader in my uterus was.

“Your stomach is flat. This fibroid though…”

Working out as much as I do, I always wondered why I could never lose my lower pooch. However, it was clear to the touch and the eye that I was not dealing with stubborn belly fat at all. There was a hard mass sitting smack dab in the middle of my uterus that was making me look slightly preggo.

The good doctor gave me a script for a transvaginal ultrasound, and I called to schedule the appointment at the hospital she’s affiliated with. I had my ultrasound about a month later because the odds of scheduling an appointment within one to two weeks are the same as winning the Mega Millions. The ultrasound tech had to work hard for her coins that day because the fibroid was pushing my ovaries far to each side. I knew then that we were dealing with something major.

Three weeks later I was back at my gynecologist’s office waiting to hear about the size of this fibroid that I could now see poking out whether I was standing up or laying down. This is when I found out the size of this fibroid. Eleven centimeters. Eleven centimeters smack dab in the middle of my uterus. The average uterus is about six centimeters. Mine is about eighteen centimeters. It’s like I’m five months pregnant, but I’m not.

“This is why you haven’t gotten pregnant while not being on any birth control,” the good doctor said.

“So what do you want to do? It’s too big to go in laparoscopically, so we would have to perform a myomectomy. It’s a c-section cut at the bikini line and it’s about 4-6 weeks recovery time. I don’t want to perform a hysterectomy if I don’t have to because you’re still young and could decide to have a baby. Come back in a month and let me know what you want to do. “

THE DECISION

A month later after having another wonderful experience during my cycle, I went back and told her that we’d have the myomectomy in February. I was going to wait until the summer, but why would I do that? Who wants to experience horrendous menstrual cycles if they don’t have to? Who wants to be on the sick & shut-in list during the summer? Not I.

So here we are in February of 2019 a few days out from my actual surgery. My FMLA paperwork has been filed. My husband is preparing the den as my recovery space. My mom has submitted her FMLA paperwork so she can be my nurse; I should really get a bell, LOL! I’m wrapping things up at work and having one of my teachers shadow me so that she can serve as interim in my absence. I’ve been slowly removing things from my diet that some say contribute to uterine fibroids. I’ve been getting in as many workouts as possible because I won’t be able to work out for a while after my surgery. My Netflix list and DVR are full of shows for my viewing pleasure. I’m doing everything and asking every question possible to put my mind at ease because I have not had to stay in the hospital since I was 10 years old.

Although I am anxious about going under the knife, I am looking forward to having this invader out of my uterus. Having talked to multiple women who have had the procedure themselves, I hear it is life changing.

Keep me all in your thoughts and prayers, and I will keep you all posted on the recovery process.

Life

Dear 2019: LET’S GET S*!& DONE!

January 27, 2019 No Comments

It’s been a long time, I shouldn’t have left you…

It has been a year since I have posted. Last year I was all about setting goals and crushing them. Based on the fact that my first post of 2018 was also my last, it is evident that I need to do a little more than set goals if I don’t want to end up like this…

Here’s a list of many things I didn’t get done in 2018:

Blog once a month.
Study for and pass a certification exam.
Pick one of the 7,000 writing projects that I’ve started to finish and create an outline for others.
Read a book a month.

These were my goals for the first quarter of 2018. The only thing I accomplished was to continue to work out 4 days a week. It was easy for me to do because I love the way working out makes me feel and look. I have also found that my fitness transformation has inspired others and that makes me smile <cue Lil Duval & Snoop>. But why the hell can’t I put the same energy into writing, reading a book a month & budgeting (not on the list above, but still something that I struggle with as an adult) that I put into working out and eating right (80% of the time)?

To find the answer to that question, I have been doing a lot of self-reflection so I don’t end up playing Whac-a-Mole with my goals in 2019. I have been listening to podcasts, the voice within, and journaling to help understand what’s stopping me from progressing in all areas of life. When one of my favorite Podcasters spoke about identifying your word of the year, I was able to pinpoint the one thing that would catapult me to a place of significant goal crushing. That one thing, my word for 2019, is ACTION. I realized that I can plan the mess out of something. However, planning is only the first step. I need to do a better job at execution. Plans require action, and lack of action is why I did not meet the majority of my 2018 goals.

Oh, but Nicole you workout all the time. That takes discipline and dedication. You can do anything. I can. I just have to do some things to transfer that same discipline and dedication I have for health & fitness into other areas of my life. I was able to transform my physical body because I planned every workout, and then I took the action necessary to see the manifestation of that plan. I set my alarm for the days that I was going to the gym at 5 a.m. before heading to work. I put each workout in my calendar. I signed up for classes that required pre-registration. I laid out my gym clothes every night. I made sure that I had enough clean gym clothes to support my workouts for the week. I invited people to work out with me and shared my goal with others (ACCOUNTABILITY). I followed the social media pages of my favorite workout facilities and fitness influencers. I took action. My action in regards to working on being the fittest version of myself was FOCUSED, COURAGEOUS, and INTENTIONAL.

So that’s it. I need to take FOCUSED, COURAGEOUS, & INTENTIONAL ACTION in order to crush my goals. I need to plan time to write whether it is everyday or for several hours on Saturday & Sunday. I need to have the courage to share my voice with the world because there is someone who will be inspired by my words; there is someone waiting for the exact words that I am going to write. I need to be intentional about how I spend my time. I am currently sitting in a Starbucks in between two self-care appointments (#selfcarematters). I could have gone home, but I would have wasted time & gas ($$$) driving there and back. Plus, this would have required too many trips in and out of the car and it’s cold than a MOFO here. That’s why I took the necessary ACTION to sit here alongside my Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte and share these words with you. I had to be sure that my laptop was charged. I had to be sure to grab my idea notebook and planner. There may be someone out there who says that’s easy peasy and that it doesn’t take much to pack a tote bag. Some may say that I could have been doing this all last year. I could say the same thing to someone who’s been playing Whac-A-Mole with their health and fitness goals about how easy it is to pack a gym bag and sign-up for a class, but I am trying to be less petty in 2019. It’s about focus & intention. I was intentional when I packed my tote bag because I had already made the decision that in between my appointments I was going to take action on my plan to blog at least once a month.

So here we are on the 27th day of 2019, and I will say that I am doing an okay job of taking action towards accomplishing my goals. I went to a vision board event a few weeks ago where I was able to think more deeply about the vision for my life and be in the presence of purpose-driven, like-minded women. During that time, I heard a phrase that confirmed my word of the year: BULLDOG TENACITY. BULLDOG TENACITY= FOCUSED, COURAGEOUS, and INTENTIONAL ACTION.

That’s it. If I stay true to the course, which I should because I have no reason not to, you’ll hear a lot more from me in 2019 and I will have a lot of things to celebrate in 338 days as we wrap up the year.

What is your word for the year? What are you going to stop doing or do more of in 2019 to become the goal crusher that will propel you to the life of your dreams? I’d love to hear in the comments.

Life

Calm Down and Focus: How to Crush Goals in 2018

January 14, 2018 No Comments

5, 4, 3, 2, 1…Happy New Year! It seems like it was just yesterday that we welcomed in 2018 with open arms. Some brought in the New Year with flutes of champagne while others sang praises to God in church. I brought in the new year in bed with Steve Harvey and his fancy winter ensemble on the television and my husband by my side. Amazingly, that was 35 days ago.

January, where have you gone? I was just settling into you and your wonder. You are the first sign of new beginnings. You are the month that gave us 31 “Mondays”. You are the month that held a mirror up and forced us to look at our accomplishments and failures from the previous year. You are the month that lit a fire under our feet and caused us to strive to be better than before. You are the month of vision boards and increased gym memberships. You are the month of budgeting and goal setting. You are the month that thrusts many into a “get shit done” mindset.

The first week of January I was still in vacation mode, so I was not as productive as I planned to be. In reality, I didn’t get started on my goal setting, vision board, and meal prep until the 4th or 5th. However, when I sat down to plan 2018, I realized that a lot of the things that I set out to do were either the same or more in-depth versions of goals I had set for 2017: save more money, lose weight, become stronger, travel more, read a book a month, step out of my comfort zone (there’s so much wrapped up in this), obtain some certifications, and make writing a habit. I put everything on my 2018 vision board and set off to crush goals. Then something happened. I became overwhelmed. I had about 20 things on my daily To Do list, but I found myself only doing that which I had been doing consistently in 2017: working out and planning what I was going to do instead of actually doing. Everything else seemed like too much in my brain. I did not know how to organize my year-long goals into attainable tasks which made me want to give up before I had even started.

I was overwhelmed, and I needed to find a way to calm down and focus if I truly wanted this year to be greater than last.

via GIPHY

It was not until I had a conversation with my best sister-friend that I was able to get my life together-well, at least get it more together than it was. She told me that I needed to decide what my focus would be each quarter of the year because I can’t focus on everything from January to December. This notion was life-changing. It is really what my husband has been telling me forever, but I guess it sounded different at that moment when my scatterbrain was trying to take me down. After that conversation, I had to sit back and think about what needed to be my focus for the first quarter and how I would make sure I was able to dedicate time to those tasks.

Here are my goals for the first quarter and my progress this past month:

1. Continue to workout at least 4 days/week: not quite. I worked out 14 times in January. Some weeks I worked out five times and one week I only worked out twice.
2. Blog once a month: Hello February 4th.
3. Study for an upcoming exam: in progress. This will get done because the exam is April 5th.
4. Pick one of the 7,000 writing projects that I’ve started to finish and create an outline: I have picked the project that I am going to finish, but I have not begun to outline it yet. I have signed up for a free online course that should help me with this. I should be able to make time for writing after this quarter because goal #3 is a mutha.
5. Read a book a month: This is an area where I really need to FOCUS. I need to stop reading 100 books at the same time.

I finished reading Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell. There was a clearance sticker from Border’s Books & Music on this book. Clearly, I’ve had this book for 100 years. I’m glad I was able to finish it before the Rapture.
I Picked the following back up to finish-didn’t finish. This is definitely an area of focus. I’ll finish them this month.
i. No Excuses by Brian Tracy
ii. Walls Fall Down by Dudley Rutherford
iii. Becoming a Woman of Prayer by Cynthia Heald

In 35 days, the biggest thing that I have been reminded of is that I cannot do everything at once. My husband tells me this all of the time. He says that I can’t help having so many brilliant ideas in my mind at once because I’m a Scorpio but that I need to focus on one instead of doing everything half-assedly. He is right. My sister-friend is right. In order for me to crush goals in 2018, I must learn to focus intently on a handful of things until I have created habits before moving on to something new. It’s like someone who wants to renovate their entire home and starts multiple projects at once. This will definitely cause anger and frustration. Their home was once a peaceful escape that needed some work that has now become a den of chaos because there are unfinished tasks in every room on every floor. Goal crushing has to be done one project at a time, and it is okay. Repeat after me. It is okay. I cannot do everything at once, and if this is the only lesson of 2018 I am grateful because it is a tremendous one that has taken me 38 years to grasp.

~Selah

Life, Love

The Truth About Marriage in Four Words

October 19, 2017 No Comments

My husband and I will celebrate our eighth wedding anniversary next month, and the one thing he always says is that “we are together because we choose to be.” He says it all the time, but I didn’t really think about what he truly meant until we were watching an episode of Married at First Sight. For those who don’t know, Married at First Sight is a show that marries people blindly based on a battery of tests and interviews conducted by experts. Yup, arranged marriages in the 21st century here in the good ol’ USA all caught on camera for reality TV of course. Anywho, the Mister and I are very intrigued by the show. The couples have six weeks to decide if they will remain married to each other after the experiment is over. One of the experts on the show is Pastor Calvin Roberson. And it was during an episode midway through season 4 that Pastor Roberson uttered the truest words we’ve ever heard about marriage:

“Marriage isn’t for punks.”

via Giphy

This right here is the absolute truth. Marriage is not for punks. If I was a punk, I would be divorced by now because “til death do us part” is hard as hell.

Disclaimer: If your marriage is abusive or infidelity is an issue that is beyond “…for worse,” you are not a punk for leaving. You are stronger than most because leaving an abuser or a cheater that you love dearly takes an insurmountable amount of courage. Kudos to you.

Now back to the regularly scheduled program.

Anyone who is thinking or fantasizing about walking down the aisle and getting married, needs to take heed to these words of wisdom. Marriage ain’t for punks. If you are weak, selfish, shallow, afraid of conflict, afraid to communicate, or afraid of someone telling you about yourself then marriage is not for you because you are a punk. If your idea of marriage comes from what you see posted on social media or in a movie, then marriage probably isn’t for you just yet. And ladies if you think that every night is going to be full of hot, passionate love making with rose petals leading to the bedroom, think again. Some nights you’ll have an attitude because you’ll be woken out of a wonderful snooze fest for a quickie after he comes home from hanging with the fellas. Marriage is about serving the other person even when you do not feel like it.

via GIPHY

Everyday that I get up I chose to be a faithful, loving wife to my husband. Some days the choice is easy. Some days I am forced to remember the commitment we made to each other before God and family on Black Friday 2009 because he can get on my nerves. And I am not afraid to admit that I get on his, but since this is my blog I don’t have to tell y’all about my crazy right now, lol! We are two people who came together after living decades apart. We grew up in similar yet different households. We handled problems differently. We budgeted differently. We cleaned house differently. We are two people with different experiences who fell in love and decided to spend the rest of our lives together for better or worse, in sickness & in health, for richer or poorer, ’til death do us part. That ain’t easy. There’s a reason there are so many divorces for irreconcilable differences.

However, if you choose to be married, you must make the choice to communicate, talk about money, respect your spouse’s point of view, be humble when you’re wrong, be confident in yourself, remember to be an individual within the union, be a teammate, and shut up. Everyday you must make these commitments over and over again. It is easy to become frustrated and shut down. It is easy to become so wrapped up in your spouse that you lose yourself. It is easy to be petty and pissed off at something stupid. A failed marriage is easy; it’s the successful, long-lasting marriages that require work from both parties. The question is are you willing to do the work to get the results that you want?

~Selah

Life

Time Management: Me vs. Me

September 9, 2017 No Comments

“It’s been a long time, I shouldn’t have left you…” ~Eric B. & Rakim/I Know You Got Soul

It’s been over a month since my last post. When I first started this blog, it was my goal to post once a week. Some may say that is an ambitious goal for a new blogger who’s trying to find her niche in the blogosphere abyss. But for me it made sense. I was in a new relationship with this blog, so everything was fresh and exciting; I just couldn’t stay away from the keyboard. Well, that was back in July when I was enjoying my summer vacation. That was back when I was carefree. I would get up, free up some space on my DVR, go to the gym, pull out my Pinterest culinary skills and work on my blog all at my leisure. That was when I had no place to be at any particular time.

All of that changed when I had to go to a week long conference for work at the end of July that marked the official end of my summer vacation. After that, I had to start getting up earlier in the morning to make my breakfast, pack my lunch and be sure that I tossed socks into my gym bag. Everything I had been doing so casually for weeks was starting to stress me out. If I didn’t pack my lunch, I may end up having an unplanned cheat meal. If I didn’t have everything in my gym bag, my plan to workout right after work would become derailed because I’d have to go back home to get a sports bra or stop at the store to grab a pair of socks. In the midst of the mild hustle and bustle that I was getting back to, I didn’t plan to blog. Stop; that’s a lie. I didn’t follow through with my plan to blog. I did sit down with my planner every week to pencil in what I needed to accomplish for the week, and publishing a new post was always a goal. However, committing to the plan became a totally different beast. Committing to this blog is like someone who is just getting back into the gym or making strides to eat better. It takes true discipline. There is discipline needed to sit down at a laptop for at least thirty minutes per day (goal) and write without being distracted by anything or anyone. Discipline to maximize the hours that I do have in my day in order to get things done, and because I am a dreamer and goal setter there are a lot of things that I want and need to get done to take me to the next level in life. I just have to manage my time better in order to do so.

I heard a rumor that I have as many hours in the day as Beyonce. I call that bull$!*#. In theory, I do have the same 24 hours in a day as Mrs. Carter. She has not found a way to slow down the space-time continuum. However, there’s a lot of stuff that I have to do that she does not such as drive, do laundry, wash dishes/load the dishwasher, meal prep, vacuum, make the bed, grocery shop, clean the kitchen & bathroom, get to the gym, spend nine hours a day M-F working for someone else. Shall I go on. I mean the fact that she can be productive while she rides in a car is a dream. Maybe I should start taking an Uber everywhere…nah (side note: I only Uber with other folks. NEVER Uber alone!!!) My point is that unless you have hired a service for all of the mundane tasks of life above, we really do not have as many hours in the day as Beyonce. Therefore, we normal folk have to figure out how to plan and manage our time effectively in order to accomplish our goals and get sh*t done. Unfortunately that may mean I won’t catch up on Game of Thrones until next month or Christmas Break. I’m sure Beyonce is not binge watching anything in her 24 hour day. If she is, I may have to contact NASA because she might be out here with Superman hacking into the space-time continuum.

~Selah

Health & Fitness, Life

Consistency: My Fair-weather Friend

July 15, 2017 No Comments

Photo by Ted C.

Photo by Ted C.

I have been in an on and off again relationship with consistency when it comes to two things since 2002: leading a healthy and fit lifestyle and writing.

Let’s examine my dysfunctional, inconsistent relationship with health and fitness that I am currently in the process of repairing. Since 2002 I have been a member of six gyms: two private and three franchises. I am currently a member of LA Fitness. I have also tried almost every diet/eating lifestyle to be named: vegan, vegetarian, pescetarian, no beef or pork, no carbs after 7p.m., and Paleo. I am currently on my third go round with Weight Watchers. Over the course of fifteen years, I have lost and regained the same 45-50lbs. I lost weight every time I allowed myself to be a part of the ménage with diet and exercise. This threesome worked EVERY TIME regardless of what diet I followed! Despite success, I always found myself quitting because I had a cheat meal, cheat day, or even a cheat week especially when I didn’t give 100% on the fitness side. I’d quit cold turkey like someone who’s ability to quit smoking cigarettes or watching porn was a matter of life or death. I’d quit what I was doing even though it was beneficial to my health, self-esteem, snatched waistline, you name it*. This led to the abyss of Hot Cheetos, Slurpees, pizza and chilling on the couch until I had an epiphany. Do you know how many epiphanies I’ve had about getting back in the gym and eating better? Like really, it’s quite ridiculous. I had my most recent epiphany somewhere right after Memorial Day; I started working out again in the beginning of June. In regards to eating, I was trying to do the Paleo/low-carb thing, but I just couldn’t. If I feel like I can’t have something, I’ll want it more. Therefore, I’m back on Weight Watchers. So far so good.

Besides being the fittest version of myself, one of my goals is to write a book. That’s wonderful you say. It would be wonderful if I could sit down and finish one of the four books I’ve started. That’s correct; I’ve started FOUR books. Let that sink in. The only one I have an excuse for not finishing is my first novel because my laptop was stolen back in 2007 which is where the manuscript was saved. I was even in a writing critique group for the second book, and two of the ladies from the group are currently published authors! Me? Nah. I’ve just been out here binge watching shows that some focused writer took the time to share with the world all while eating my chips and thinking man, why didn’t I write this? Well, we know the answer to that. If I had set aside dedicated writing time, maybe I would be watching my own show on TV or taking pictures with Auntie O as she tells the world about my book. If only I was consistently putting all the stories in my head on paper or my Google Drive<MAJOR SIDE EYE TO MYSELF>.

Consistency will stab you in the back if you betray her. She is the one we love to hate. We love her because she causes us to achieve our goals and pushes us towards success after success**. We hate her because she causes us to become disciplined and with discipline comes sacrifice of things or people that we may have become accustomed to being in our lives. If we betray her awesomeness, she will slap us with a complacent, unfulfilled life of fatassedness*** and wasted potential. I know that may be a bit dramatic but that is where I will end up if I don’t get my act together and show consistency the respect she deserves.

Part of the reason for this post and this blog in general is to work on my consistency. I am great at starting a lot of stuff. The consistency and discipline to finish what I start is what I am working towards improving.

I know that I am not the only one out there who has betrayed consistency at some point in time. It may not have been with an order of chili cheese fries, but maybe it was with seventeen shows on Netflix, a bottle of wine, a car, him or her. Ask yourself if that person or thing is worth it? That’s the million dollar question. I can tell you that there is not one bacon cheeseburger, slice of pizza or cupcake that is worth my goals. It is really up to me to do everything in my power to achieve my fitness and writing goals. All I have to do is be consistent. I don’t think that’s too much to ask of myself.

~Selah

*You name it: Every time I proofread this piece, I couldn’t help but sing that part in my best Shirley Caesar voice. Sad.

**Disclaimer: If you are someone who is consistently an a&*hole, unreliable, or lazy, none of the success that comes with consistency applies to you. Carry on.

***Fatassedness: I thought I was the only one who used this word. However, it was defined on UrbanDictionary.com as “fatty ass, being fat” by Judy in December of 2004. Yay, Judy!

Life

Perspective: It’s really half-full

July 7, 2017 7 Comments

Photo by Frederic Köberl licensed under CCO

Frederic Köberl

About a week ago I hit a massive pothole less than two miles from my house. In over twenty years of driving, this is the first time that I have hit a pothole in this Michigan where immaculate roads only exist once you cross the border into Ohio.

Fortunately, I was able to pull into the parking lot of a church and wait for assistance. There was one other car in the lot; however, the residential street adjacent to the church was filled with cars. I didn’t notice the people waiting in the vehicles because I may have been pissed that the janky roads had decided to bestow upon me their blessing of a flat tire. While I waited, I scoped out the area to make sure there were no sketchy individuals lurking; there were none. The church security guard pulled up to check to see if I needed any assistance, and I told him I was waiting for AAA. He proceeded to exit the parking lot and drive around the block. Soon after, I saw him leading all of the cars that were parked on the side street into the church lot. They passed me and formed a line behind the patrol car. At first I thought it was a funeral procession, but there was not a hearse in sight. Then I wondered if it was a group of parents coming to enroll their children for the charter school housed on the premises or some sort of summer program the church was offering. But there were no children with them, and no one was parking or getting out of their vehicles. After the last car entered the lot, the security guard exited his car which was still at the front of the line as a way to keep everyone in order. He came to check on me again, and I asked him what was going on. He told me. All of the cars I saw were waiting for the food bank.

The food bank. Those words immediately put everything into perspective for me. I was grateful that I could call both AAA and the dealership for roadside assistance. However, I had been irritated that I had a flat tire. I had a flat tire in a car that takes me to the grocery store all the time where I pick out the fresh produce, seafood, poultry and snacks that I want. They were waiting in line to receive food that had been donated after those who were more fortunate cleaned out their pantry or grabbed a few extra cans of corn at the market. I had a flat tire in a car that takes me to Whole Foods, Aldi and any store in between. They were waiting in line to receive free food because they can’t afford the exorbitant prices of their local store or their aid is not enough to feed their families. I had a flat tire in a car that has a tire warranty to protect me from ridiculous out of pocket costs when I play Russian roulette on these roads. I had a flat tire in a car that takes me to various bars and restaurants when I please. A flat tire in a car that was taking me to a professional development that would not dock my pay because I was not there. A flat on a car with a tire warranty. A flat tire on the vehicle of a AAA member. A flat tire serving as a reminder of how truly blessed I am. A reminder that the lens with which I view the world may look like paradise to someone looking from a different angle.

Selah