Un-LEash

I love Octobers! Not only is it the best month of the year, but it's also the month of my birth! It's also I take my vacation in October. This year - 2017 - was no different. On Friday, October 6, I left work a few minutes early to catch a flight to Toronto - Business Class! Thanks to my credit card and a points system, I could afford to upgrade. I arrived close to midnight in cold Toronto, but my friends were there to greet me. My vacation had officially begun. The first weekend was filled with activities. Saturday was spend seeing a bit of the place. We went to Gage Park and then went to a mall to look around. Sunday was a day of thanksgiving! First, it was my birthday. I felt so grateful to be able to celebrate another year, but also for everything God has done for my family, my friends and I. And 2nd, we had an early Thanksgiving and birthday dinner. Canada celebrates their Thanksgiving on October 9, but that's the day for a day trip ...

To say that 2017 has been one of the most interesting, fascinating yet bizarre and unprecedented years may just be the tip of the ice berg. On a personal level, it has been one of challenges as evident in my previous post . But perhaps what is currently playing in the saga of this year is the temperature of Mother Earth - ANGRY! Harvey : meaning battle; strong; ardent; eager to battle; warrior; soldier Hurricane Harvey started out like most hurricanes - an area of disturbance, forming into a tropical storm (TS) east of the Lesser Antilles. It moved towards the west and was downgraded to a wave 2 days later. But true to it name, it was an ardent warrior, strong-willed and determined not to be cast aside...it was eager to prove a point. Four days later, it was a TS again, and one day after that was a hurricane. It then became unstoppable and one day later made landfall in the US, the first in 12 years, as a powerful Category 4 storm. It moved so slowly that it dumped massive amounts ...

Tonight I cried. I cried because God knows the language of tears. I cried because words can't fully express how I'm feeling. Night after night, I feel as though my bed is a place of torture. For a few months now, I have been having issues with my back. It's one thing to have discomfort and even pain during the days. It's another to have it affect the one thing you need most to heal - rest. Finding that comfortable position and being able to sleep throughout the night has evaded my reality for month now. It's increasingly difficult be smile and bear it. It's hard to not focus on it when it is my daily thorn. I try to encourage myself to keep hope alive and keep on praying. And I'll continue to do so. But times like tonight are hard...no matter what I do, I can't get a reprieve from my back issues and I can't sleep because of it. So I cried, because it's really the only thing I can really do right now that God will understand. The righteous c...

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. Albert Einstein's quote resonates with me from a personal (and professional) level. My Emancipation Day is one that was not only inspired by nature, but one that pushes me far out of my comfort zone to a territory I've never ventured to explore before. Since I was in 2nd form (grade 8), I have been using chemicals in my hair, ie, relaxing it. That is over 20 years of using these chemicals as a way of better managing my hair. I started out using the relaxers that the hairdressers chose. I then migrated to the box relaxer kits with "no lye". Most recent of the products was a plant-based relaxer and so was supposed to be among the most environmentally friendly ones out there. But the truth is that as time went on, I was more and more convinced that switching relaxers wasn't really the answer to leaving less of a footprint. In early 2015, I decided for the first time to go back to my natural h...

Life as a Christian is worthwhile. Full stop. I made that decision since I was a child/teen and I have had no regrets since. However, as the song says, "it's not an easy road". Christians are not immuned to hardships, temptations, struggles, and more. It may shock others to know the things we struggle with daily. But thank God that He has and will continue to show up to help when we fall short. If that's not good news, then I don't know what is! And good news is always worth sharing. More than saying it or writing it or singing it, I try to share the good news by living it. For years, I've maintained that my life must be my greatest witness and that hasn't changed. So why speak about all this now? I recall a few years ago I was in Negril for a workshop which had members of private and public sector entities as well communities and civil society groups. I was among the presenters, so naturally I facilitated a question and answer session to clarify any a...

A few years ago, some friends and I were discussing exploring our beautiful country. It took one person to bring it to our attention once again at lunch one day in January, and the planning began! At first, we were thinking of rafting on the Rio Grande in Portland or going to Sun Coast in St Thomas. But then someone mentioned Falling Edge Waterfalls which is off the beaten path. Suffice it to say, the latter won. In a very brief period of research, we found a few persons speaking about their trip to the falls online, and close to the date of travel, we found some directions. On Saturday, February 18, the journey began. We all met up at my apartment sometime after 11am. We drove to Manor Park to buy food. We settled for KFC as that was the only food that is likely to taste decent enough when had cold. One of the 3-member team brought along fruits and I had some snack bars. Plus we each had our own water. Then we hit the road. The journey took us to Stony Hill, where we turned off ...