New Journey Ahead...

Having written the last blog, I'm realizing now that I don't believe I actually announced my next step in life. I'm planning on relocating to Miami, Florida in a month. Yeah I said it...a month.

However, this isn't some idea I just conjured up on a whim. I have been thinking about leaving Charlotte, North Carolina for years now. Only since dancing in the NBA did I grow content with this city and even manage to fool myself into occasionally believing it had everything I desired out of life. Most of the time however, I still find myself feeling like that 13 year old girl feeling somewhat out-of-place and different here, sometimes alone even.

Miami has a certain "joie de vivre". I have many fond memories of the city and I know most of them are juvenile ones having left as a teenager. Truth is, I don't know what Miami is like all grown up. Sure I've visited several times over the years but it varies from the day-to-day. I am so eager to experience it at this point of my life...approaching 30.

I am looking forward to some sentimental moments as well. My relationship with Miami is like the relationship with that guy whom you are no longer with but don't feel like you've received the necessary closure from, so you're not quite over it? Yeah. I need to mend things with Miami.

And knowing me, I will. I will go to my old house and remember where I had my 10th birthday or had my huffy bike stolen. I'll drive by Octaviano's Gymnastics to see if it's still there & recollect on how much I loved being in the gym and would go to my aunt's house to swim right after my gymnastics practices. I'll drive up and down the street I used to walk every day to and from school and remember how I used to dream about the things I would grow up to do or become. I'll go to the church I grew up in and can still to this day vividly remember just being there with my mother or having my confirmation. I'll order a patty at Island Delight because that's where daddy would take me and I have so few memories of him and the things that we would do alone together. I will do these things to honor my time in Miami. A bit dramatic probably, but I need that closure on the old Miami.

The new Miami holds big plans for me and I'm truly excited. I've been at peace with this decision for months now. I have goals that my superstitious self won't let me mention for fear of jinxing them, but it's those goals that are truly the gas that keeps me going. This time spent in my new Miami will also allow me to be closer to my family, in particular my father who is paralyzed having suffered a stroke (along with other medical complications) back in 2004 that is still causing a toll on his health. This new Miami is just me expanding my wings and just...living a little. I remember how excited I was when I wanted to live in France, researched it and I did. This too is another goal of mine and I cannot wait to see what it entails!

However, I don't know what the future holds. I don't know how long I will stay or how succesful I'll be but I'll definitely take the leap now. Not because I am turning 30 but because it is time for me to act and not react. I cannot wait to do this, if only for myself but for peace of mind, knowing that I tried. I can only hope that everything pans out in a positive way. In the meantime I am claiming my life and ready to write my own journey.