Unpacking Peace of Mind: November 1, 2011

October 31, 2021 To read the original post from 2012, click here. Ten years ago, I left my friend Chase’s apartment in Mt. Rainier, Maryland. As he left for work, I began the final leg of my drive from Buffalo to my new home, Newport News, Virginia. I could have made the 10-hour trek in […]

A Year After Confronting My Past

June 28, 2016, 9:47 am. A year ago at this time I was just arriving home from Virginia. After waking up at 4 am for a full day’s work, I took an hour nap, packed up Cydney, and left New York on the 26th at around 1:30 am. Just about every trip to the […]

My Experience Confronting My Demons

I took some time off because my schedule tends to get pretty busy around Father’s Day. Once that passed, I was mentally and spiritually preparing myself for my return to Virginia for the first time in over three years. In spite of declaring that I would never return, I always knew deep down that I […]

Why I Still Haven’t Visited Timile’s Grave Site

I posted this picture on Instagram on Friday afternoon. Virginia had been on my mind heavily and I decided to share some of my thoughts. A couple of friends of mine told me I need to stop playing around and visit Timile’s grave site. Why? If one had been the places that I’ve been […]

The Last Court Date

I filed for an amendment to the visitation agreement Timile’s parents and I had in place since May 2012. I thought it was bogus. It wasn’t necessary. I left it alone until they reached out to me about visiting Cydney on grounds that I thought were ridiculous. I remembered my lawyer telling me if […]

The Last Chapter: Back to Court Pt. 2

With Timile’s mother not asking but telling me that they’re taking Cydney to visit from December 26th-January 5th per our visitation agreement in Virginia, I filed in New York a motion to amend the visitation agreement that was in place by the State of Virginia. I strategically waited until Cydney’s grandparents decided to make a […]

The Last Chapter: Back to Court Pt. 1

In May, I spoke about my last trip to court with Timile’s parents and our custody/visitation hearing in Virginia. In the fourth paragraph, I mentioned that Cydney’s grandparents had dropped their filing for custody and there were negotiations that had to take place that I was not yet at liberty to talk about. Well, now […]

Pocohantas

Other than Sofia the First, Cydney’s favorite Disney Princess is Pocohantas. It’s her favorite princess toy to play with. Because we watch a Sing-A-Long DVD daily, she has to play with Pocohantas in water while singing Just Around the River Bend. Everything is Pocohantas. Saturday afternoon, we were watching Disney Jr and a commercial came […]

The [Second to] Last Chapter: Three Years Ago

I looked at Cydney today and thought to myself “Wow, you’ve changed quickly.” I went through my phone and looked at pictures of her in June 2011 and 2012. My next thought was “Holy shit, you’ve existed for three years now.” I remembered exactly what was going on three years ago to the date. In […]

5/21/12: The Final Court Date

May 21 had been marked off on my mental calendar for almost three months. I always knew I was getting my daughter back so I was never worried about that. After all that I’d been through since between the pregnancy, cancer, and moving around; this chapter could finally close and Timile could rest in peace. […]