My Dad and I don’t have what I would consider the typical father and son relationship. We don’t go camping. We’ve never gone on a father-son road trip. We don’t sit down and watch Sunday football or anything like that. But, what I cherished the most was the fact that every year around my birthday we used to watch the Bond movie marathon on TNT. There wasn’t anything better than seeing Odd Job, Goldfinger, and the rest of Bond villains. Overly dramatic intro music, the most high tech gadgets, and hearing the best line ever- “Shaken not stirred.” We also agreed on the fact that Sean Connery is, and will…

Right before I sat down to write this, I woke up from a nap. As an adult, I rarely get the chance to just take a good nap. I miss the olden days of a lovely mat laid down next to me. Preceded by a snack or something, I’m sure. Dimmed lights for ambiance. A blanket I think you may or may not have brought from home. Basically, the perfect situation for midday resting. I don’t know if I truly knew just how precious it was to have that time to recharge. As kids, we just keep running until our tanks are empty. We fight what we need because the…

I love cooking. So much so that I’ve been to culinary school. Twice! I didn’t finish either time, but yeah, I tried. Look, the point is I enjoy being in the kitchen “cheffing” it up from time to time. I had dreams of opening a restaurant in Italy making fusion style Southern and Italian cooking. Now I can see at this point you’re probably wondering why Italian and honestly, I couldn’t tell you. It may have been from all the Food Network I used to watch. I’d watch that network like ESPN. Emeril Lagasse (probably the origin of my fusion restaurant), Iron Chef, and Good Eats were all my favorite…

It was placed upon my heart to give roses to those who could smell them and even those who could not. We never know when our last day could be so it’s important to cherish each and everyone who’s important to us. Today it was hard to pick one more person so I decided to just end this week with some thoughts on why I’m doing this. When I was younger as “sweet” as I could be, I’m honest enough to admit I could be a brat. I was selfish. I didn’t remember anyone’s birthday until a card was handed over for me to sign. I didn’t consider many people…

Growing up in the church for me was a lot like going to a family reunion every Sunday. I wasn’t related to everyone by blood, but my church was and still is, one of the places that feels like home. We in the black community are known to have a plethora of play cousins, aunts, and uncles just to name a few. My church was no different. I was blessed to be raised by all the church mothers. I wasn’t always the most confident person. I doubted myself daily and felt like the four-eyed kid with glasses couldn’t be as awesome as those around him. They never saw that. I…

There are so many stories I can tell about my mother and how much she has sacrificed for me and BibleStudyGirl. She is a shining example of Godly service and I don’t know where I’d be without her. One of the defining moments in my life that let me know how much she trusted God, and consequently how much faith she had in me, was before my first year of college. Now I’m not being mean to myself when I say this, but I wasn’t the most dedicated student in school. If you couldn’t tell from my post about my wife, I liked to write my own stories more than…