Currently Happening #4

Hi guys! I was going to share a recipe today but I just didn’t have the heart to. So much has happened since I last spoke with you guys. Just 3 kinda major things…

My great-grandmother passed away. She was buried a couple of weeks ago in the country side in Jamaica. She was and will always be the very first person that I literally worshipped. She was so feisty, strong and loving. I remember as a kid wanting to be her. Strong willed and very bold. She never conformed or lived her life to anyone’s standard. She really did march to the beat of her own drum and that for me as a little girl was exactly the image I wanted to live up to. I was shy and timid as a kid. She created a safe space for me to be me but stronger. I remember a kid was bullying me in the 2nd grade and she marched me up to the girl ( who was literally the size of an adult in the 2nd grade) and told me to stand up to her. I told the girl to back off. And a surprising thing happens when you stand up to a bully- they back off.  It was a defining moment in my life because I just knew that anywhere I was I would hear her behind me saying ” stand strong and remember I am here”. She taught me so many things. I am blessed to have known her and to have been loved by her. So here I am standing strong.

My spine! I sat trying to write about my surgery for about 30 minutes. It is so frustrating. I get up wanting to conquer the world but I’m immediately reminded that I have limits. I had to take a couple of months to accept that this is the new normal. I have to say no to things at times. I have to set new expectations for myself. My house isn’t going to be clean all the time. Sometimes I’m gonna be behind on the laundry. Slow cooker meals are a life saver. And my husband is everything. My mom and grandma have been so amazing. But I am making it. I am trying to schedule everything sooner rather than later. But I want to make sure that the kids are taken care of maybe over Christmas break when Abdel can be at home to help out even more.

Third! We survived hurricane Irma! It has officially been a week since Irma came and wreaked devastation on the state of Florida. Our patio is destroyed and we have a broken window. But we are good. We still have life and limbs. We went all out in our hurricane prep. I’m still working my way through all the snacks I stocked up on. I am so glad we cut down some branches from our trees because I have friends in the keys that Irma destroyed their homes. I had a friend that posted a video of her neighbors pickup in the canal behind their house when it was just parked in the driveway. Initially we didn’t think it was that bad because around our neighborhood we only saw a few down trees but nothing that bad. It wasn’t until we drove south towards Miami that we really started seeing missing roofs. It slowly sunk in that it was going to take some time for people to rebuild. In some places people still don’t have electricity. But to say that we as a state dodge a bullet is an understatement. Please keep sending your positive thoughts and prayers our way.

But to say that I am back is one way to put it. I know that I am ready to get back in the kitchen and have some fun again! So let’s do this and crush this cooking thing.

Peace and love,

Ann