Nikki and Sade: thanks for the Reminder...

Wednesday night was phenomenal. Not that I wasn't impressed with the poets who graced the stage. They were wonderful; but what struck me, was most memorable was the conversation and musings with two young ladies. Well, actually there was a table of young women; however, only two of the four, Nikki and Sade, were confident, witty, clever, and daring enough to join the conversation and give me a bit of what I was giving to them... A HARD TIME. I absolutely adored them. Sade asked questions immediately and Nikki quietly took it all in before she took the stage and read an amazing piece..... I'm ahead of myself....
In some ways Tuesday should not have been as enjoyable. I had to get up early to catch a flight to Houston for work. 6:45 am take off.... Which meant getting to the airport an hour prior to departure. Hardly slept the previous night as I didn't want to leave in that way. And the weekend, while it worked it's way out, I didn't spend it as well as I would have liked.. Worked later on site than imagined. Leaving the work-site was horrific.... I wasn't driving, and I like to drive like a New York cab driver... So, the ride to the hotel took LONGER than anticipated. Like forty minutes to go 12 miles... DAMN. So I didn't check in until 6:00 pm. Did I mention I needed to be on the U of H campus by 6:00 pm? I hadn't secured a ride to the venue. My peeps were at Luby's on Gulf Freeway (My hotel was on 610 South by the Galleria), seemingly a gazillion miles away. Didn't get the location or address. The shuttle only went within a three mile radius. Had to negro-ciate the rented vehicle with my colleague. Poor directions from my Peeps. Bad traffic. Frustrated driving, not paying attention and cursing self, by the grace of G.O.D. I got there by five to seven. I couldn't fully shake my frustration, so I mostly walked away from the crowd of poets I was to perform with to get a bit of freshness.... (I have found when I am frustrated it is best to talk to strangers.... you don't tell 'em anything, you just flow, ya know?) So I walk over to this table of four young sisters and just begin talking, like I know them.. a snippet of the conversation:
Me: "Is this a greek organization? Do you got to this school?"
"No. The ____ put this together."
Me: "Oh. Are you Greek?"
"No. Are you?"
Me: "No, why? Are you a part of the group who put this together?"
"Naw." Pointing, "They did.".
Me: "Who are they?"
"Who are you?"
Me: "I'm the entertainment, aren't you entertained?"
"Yes, naw," thru laughter, "who are you?"
Me: "The entertainment."
As we continue to talk, I find out they are both from my immediate area. I tease them, they tease me. Reminded me of talking to my younger sister, goofing off. I learn they both write. One performs (Nikki) and it was absolutely beautiful. They both promise to come to our venue when they return home. What's amazing is: after the show they came up to me and discussed how much they enjoyed the show, and would be coming to the venue to perfrom during spring break. I encouraged them to continue to write, gave them my e-mail address and blog site information. Today when I returned to work I found an invitation from Nikki who has created her own blog and has listed two poems on her site. Instantaneously I am reminded why I write, why I love the freshness of the new, and why life is so damn amazing. Can I take credit for it? No, and I don't want or wish to. Just glad I was able to do some things I absolutely love: talk and goof off, encourage another to tell their story, and have the opportunity for us to share it with each other and the world. Mo... You were absolutely right... There is a lot of love among women. You just have to channel it the right way and know how to recieve it, the good and the bad. People please check out the young sisters (Nikki U of H) blog tagged on the sidebar...
thir13teen