I don’t know if it is possible to be both boring and interesting at the same time but there are times, I believe my life works to challenge that idea. 

I grew up in Memphis, TN to a single mother and a little sister that’s younger than me by 9 years, but taller than me by 9ft, lol. My childhood was basic enough, I would devour a bowl of Lucky Charms while sitting too close to the TV watching Nickelodeon for hours. When TV was not enough to satisfy my interests or my grandmother was ready to watch her stories, I went outside, dug up worms, and rode my bike til the streetlights came on. Going to the candy lady and running from the neighborhood dog were also commonplace where I grew up. There was always a set of eyes watching me since I was related to most of my neighbors. In addition to the fact that they were given permission to correct any foolish behavior I thought I could get away with.  

It wasn’t until high school that I began to understand who I could be and how my experiences up to that point had shaped the woman I was growing into. By the end of high school, I understood the importance of not placing too much value in material things as our house had been broken into 7 times and after a while, how important is a couch really? Lol! Thankfully, we had insurance so we were able to replace the things we lost and we had not lost anything we couldn’t replace; at least during the break-ins anyway.

My grandmother passed away when I was in the 9th grade and back then it didn’t hit me just how young she was when she made that transition and how much of a role she played in my life. I say that I grew up in a single parent household, but I had two parents, it just happened to be my mother and grandmother instead of the “mother and father” dynamic.  Statistically, you could say the odds were stacked against me and I was often reminded why I wouldn’t make it and why I would always be stuck in the hood, where I grew up. Thankfully, I always thought those statistics were a bunch of BS and I have always been one to go against the grain. I also tend to rebel when you tell me what I can and cannot do (authority has always been a bit of a problem area for me #sorrynotsorry). 

I graduated high school with honors and went on to Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in a town I had never heard. I don’t believe at this point I was doing anything too spectacular or out of the ordinary as it was expected of me and the rest of my peers to go to college after high school. My college life was pretty basic, but it was amazing and I would do it all again if you told me I could do it with the same people, especially this one particular guy I married in 2012. I went on to get my master’s from Florida State University and the day after I graduated the husband and I, made our way back to Tennessee, where we’ve been ever since. 

Now with two children (make that three, hi teenager!) and a mortgage, we both work at our alma mater, MTSU and do the mundane, date to date routine of work, eat, sleep, repeat. Pretty boring and basic stuff truly, nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe I’m not so interesting after all.