Valentine’s Day Weekend — A tribute
Listen…For some reason I have been waiting for Valentine’s Day 2022 since November of 2021. I have no idea why but I knew it was going to be something. This Valentine’s Day weekend has been amazing—packed full of sunlight (that 71 degrees *chef’s kiss*) and beauty!
So Valentine’s Day weekend was just God’s love being revealed over and over again through the relationships with my family, friends, and myself! Great conversations and peace really did it for me. Here’s a snapshot of my Valentine’s Day weekend--I hope you feel inspired to invest in a little fun this year too!
Friday - GALENTINES DAY
Friday night, my pastor’s wife hosted a Galentine’s Day party for our young adult women! It was AMAZING. I already knew the food was going to be amazing because last year, she hosted something else and BABY was there a SPREAD. We had so much food, and real food, not just candy and finger foods. There was Chicken Salad Chick, Sliders (drool worthy), Pasta Salad, Fruit and Veggie trays, Buffalo Dip—the whole nine! There were plenty of sweets too but Ms. Melissa put me on to something last time I was over—Pepper Jelly & Cream Cheese on Crackers! Don’t knock it till you try it!
We also played the white elephant game where people got a little bit of everything, from flushable wipes to 20 dollars cash. We had a lot of fun, but the most important part was the investment Mrs. M and Ms. G made into our lives that night. They both sat around and told us the stories of their lives—good and bad—and reminded us of what true love is. I love people’s stories in general but its so special to get to hear the wisdom of someone older than you. It was beautiful but honest. Afterwards we got a chance to ask questions and pick their brains about everything love, singleness, abuse, marriage, self-worth, heartbreak, and truth.
One thing that stuck out to me was what Ms. G said as she shared her story of abuse.
“Imagine how it makes God feel, when you let someone speak to you like that, belittle you like that”—He made you, He LOVES you, CHERISHES you, and you are really honoring God when you walk away from abuse, like no I’m not going to let you treat God’s creation—me— like this. I think it switches it up, because it’s not what I believe about myself, because we know that can be struggle sometimes, but it’s who God says I am—how God sees me. God sees me as beautiful, worthy—He looks at me with pride, even my smallest steps forward that seem like nothing to me. His view of me is the best; He is the Creator God, all knowing, loving and all powerful and merciful. Therefore if he says I am—his word is truth because He cannot lie—then I am what he says I am. He saw all of me, my mess and instead of thinking it’s insignificant—he extended grace and mercy and chose me. If Jesus saw me at my worst and still said, “Worthy” then no one has the right to tell me anything different at any point. Period. Many of us never walk into abuse and remain on purpose. It begins to alter your mind. I loved what she highlighted that any abuse against his creation is an offense to God. That helped me, because I may not always do right but I want to do right by God—I seek to honor him. When I realized that letting anyone disrespect me was an offense against God—it changed my attitude. I can’t just take anything, because how would God feel—it’s me saying, what God says isn’t true, isn’t worth it, tear it up. It’s meaningless. He saved us because we weren’t. This made me feel a higher calling to make sure I am treated right in any relationship—friendship or romantic.
*This is not negating the fact that some people are trapped in abusive situations with no choice of their own. This is referring to abuse we sometimes allow ourselves to take when we do not have to.
Saturday
Saturday was really chill. I played the day by ear. It was 70 degrees outside and I literally laid on the hood of my car and watched the red birds sing. Sounds cliché but if you know me, you know I LOVE the sun and ya girl has been starving for a little heat on her skin. I needed to spend some time with God too, kinda getting back to just us. I felt disconnected from the easy going relationship we had, so I just let the time pass as I sat and talked to him about a little bit of everything. It was good. A deep belly good.
My best friend and I had planned to have a girls night on Saturday—pizza, lovey dovey movies, and good talks. The sun had inspired me so instead of eating in, we decided to go to the next town over for a change of scenery! We went to the Brick’s Milledgeville location and once I got there, I 86’d the pizza and went for a 12 piece Brown Sugar Hot wing meal with ranch. Great decision. We had deep talks like we always do, at the table, and on the drive to and from. Siri took us the long way, so we rode through the backroads and asked each other questions and explained the things God has been placing in our hearts. We discussed how funny it is how our desires change. We looked back and discussed how what we wanted in one season of our lives has changed now. At the moment it seemed as if we had switched places, she wanted the adventurous independent life complete with a high rise in a big city and I was craving closeness, intimacy, and putting down roots. 23 is creating different versions of who we and others know ourselves to be.
We ate, watched all the pretty Valentines Day formal gals prance around downtown and then went home and crashed, movie marathons forgotten! (Our real plan was to binge watch Season 2 of Sweet Magolias on Netflix—iykyk—but that plan went to sleep with us lol).
Sunday - ATLANTA
Sunday was a good day. We both were volunteering with the kids at church this morning—I was in the 4 to 5 year old room, and she was in the baby room! We did had a Valentines day party with paint and cookie cake—BLISS. My classroom had like 16 kids y’all, 11 little boys and 5 girls like lets talk about it LOL. It was something but such a good time—when Chrissy revealed that cookie cake—the audible “Ahh” was perfect (And I got a little to-go piece for myself :)).
My best friend and I left early because my mom bought us tickets to see The Alvin Ailey dance theatre in Atlanta!
In 1958, he founded Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to carry out his vision of a company dedicated to enriching the American modern dance heritage and preserving the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience.
Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre https://www.alvinailey.org/
We met the rest of my family up there and it was so nice! Really and truly seeing such a diverse group of dancers. One of my favorite performances was called, “Unfold”. I am not exposed to a lot of contemporary dance performances so I loved the thought each one provoked. Moving art.
Afterwards, we walked back to the parking lot we had parked at LEGALLY (paid) to find a fresh boot on my tire. Sigh Atlanta, we try to love you but then you do ghetto stuff like this. Apparently we weren’t the only ones though, about 2/3 of the cars had the same issue. A parking lot full of perplexed melanated women and men all in their best dresses and $50 shady dollars later, the boot was gone and we were off to dinner.
We got a chance to eat at Houston’s for the first time! It was lovely. We sat at the bar and just rested as we mulled over how much food we actually needed versus what our empty stomachs tried to tell us. God is so good, because during the dance performance, I just knew I needed some steak—and he had us go to Houston’s where they specialize in good steak! I was going to settle for a burger but when God says NY strip steak, you say okay LOL. Thor had a “you got your money’s worth” size burger and we split a plate of sushi. Babaaayyyy—that rainbow roll from Houston’s? Untouched. We ended our night in luxury and rode back to a good night sleep.
