The Runway

I was sitting in the halls of Harlan High tying my shoes getting ready for practice. I heard the rush of folks coming around the corner as class was letting out. My first inclination was to press up against the locker to avoid the crowd. Then I looked up and saw her with a crew of girls coming my way. It is kind a corny but everyone else blurred out of the scene. Her long strides were amplified by the easy sway of the books she held in her arms. Our eyes connected and we had a I'll see you after practice conversation in that moment. Her smile froze my thoughts to everything that did not include her. I had already let the cat out of the bag and told her I loved her. There was no going back now. In my minds eyes I saw her walking down the runway (hallway) with the grace of a model. To this day I still see that model with the grace that makes my thoughts lock in on our love. We still in this with God's covenant as our guide and I'm still loving you sweetheart… Glad the tomb is empty.

Valentines Day

Re-Post 

I just read an amazing article written by Jill Scott for Essence magazine entitled “A Real Man”. She wrote about things that most women will not be able to grasp unless men begin to reveal them. Problem is men are not wired to “reveal” anything but our masculinity. She wrote. “Men get afraid. Some cry. Most are far more sensitive than we can imagine.” Without further elaboration this statement for most men will just slide down the locker room shower drain along with anything else that moves men away from their image of warriors in the “300” army holding the line for all our ancestral fathers that guarded the mailbox like “mister” in “The Color Purple”. It is extremely hard to fight hard wired circuitry. This is for those who desire to know or understand. If it matters not, stop now…. I might be wasting your time but let me at least try.

 Whether she is your wife, your girlfriend, your baby momma, your boo, or your friend with benefits, she will only see what you show her or what her “hormonal” detective skills discover. The latter usually reveals the most misunderstood, fragmented, and indistinguishable “facts” available. Your relationship is really just a series of situations strung together over time due to a need to be familiar with somebody who “may” not hurt you. Cut the thread of time or introduce a new you (or an unseen you) and the situations become not so good memories. You have heard the saying we were good together but not good for each other.

Most women think that a man’s power and fortitude is driven by his inner strength and pride. A man’s power is driven, yet stabilized by his ability to control, contain, and judiciously dispense his feelings for any given situation. Physical prowess is a by-product of self-control of raging emotions. Woman are allowed to let it flow. Men must hold the line. Every man has a treasure chest of emotions buried so deep inside his heart he dare not let them be discovered by mere mortals.

 Until you let her see this part of your heart, this part that you rarely take the time to view, she may never truly be your help mate. Because she may never really know you. Your boo needs to know your hurts. Your baby momma needs to know you fear not being able to provide, whether it be money or majesty. Your girlfriend needs to see and know the anxiety that envelops you with thoughts of a true committed relationship. All these emotions live in the chest.

Ladies it may be hard to understand given what you have seen and been taught over time by various sources. Be patient if you can. Be understanding because you must. But most of all recognize there is an awesome power to love and to protect and to provide within your grasp. Make it safe so it can be revealed.

During this Hallmark season let her see you. Her heart will smile…

Happy Valentine’s day….

My Pop

February is Black History month and the month of love. In keeping with the twist, I introduced last year I want to continue giving some brotherly love to some men who influenced my journey. I want to begin with my father, my “Pop”, Walter Peeler. We only shared a few years together but in retrospect I believe I got the best he could give before God called him home. I was nineteen and away at college when he passed. The last three years were our best. I began to listen to him and not judge him. Up until I was sixteen I seemed to always be at odds with this man who talked in metaphoric circles. I began to sit still and take notice to the life he wished he had and the life he wished for me. I finally understood that it was not rants and waves that I was being engulfed with but his heart. A heart filled with the hope of me being a good man, a better man. He frustrated me at times because he never would give me a straight answer. It was usually a question for a question. He required me to think before answering his question. He passed away suddenly but it was as if he squeezed all of him into all of me in those three years. I wonder if he knew? I was his Timothy and he was my Paul. Proverbs 27:17 says iron sharpens iron. Is anything too hard for God?