Eccentric Tea Woman

  For many years, I craved for someone to acknowledge me. Someone far away to validate my existence. Yeah I know - that wasn't a smart idea to have but at the time, I was desperate for a myriad of reasons. I was tired of being this black girl who had a speech impediment and was shy. I was tired of being told that I wasn't a typical black girl: how dare I want to read, speak correct English, write in a journal, etc.? I wanted to be seen. As time wore on, I was acknowledged by people and they gave me crumbs. These people were manipulative and controlling and even though I disliked what I allowed them to do to me, I was still grateful that I received their crumbs. Many years later, I decided that I was worth the work to better my life. I began to heal my body, mind, and soul and soon, I realized that the crumbs I so graciously received were just that - CRUMBS. As I bettered myself, I understood that crumbs came from delicious warm loaves of bread. There were many kinds of bread as

  It was over. She stared at the silent phone in her hands and couldn't believe it. He had dumped her because, well, she didn't exactly know why he had dumped her, only that he was no longer her boyfriend. She placed the phone in the passenger seat of her car as she remained in the driver's seat, staring ahead at nothing. What was it he had told her? Oh yes - that it wasn't her but him, that he was walking away, and that he was sorry. She touched her face; still no tears, she thought. Damn. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and then, strangely enough, smiled a warm smile. She smiled because today was the day that she told herself - NO MORE. No more allowing people to walk all over her. No more allowing yet another loser to waltz into her life, only to disappear when they couldn't handle a relationship longer than three months. No more doubting herself. No more holding herself back. No more chasing everything and everyone with more than a dash of desperation. NO MORE.