Author Archives: mathdreads
Dreaming of Angels
A few days before I journeyed back to NC, I dreamed my father and I were at a crowded mall. We’d planned to eat at one of the restaurants. I told him to have a seat in one of the open areas of the mall while I sped walked to the restaurant to put my … Continue reading
Family Dinners
In many ways, I returned home just in time. My parents had recently recovered from COVID. I’d hit a pandemic-induced stagnation. I’d been priced out of Austin. I hadn’t seen any of my immediate family in two and a half years. I’d saved up enough vacation time to take two weeks off for the relocation. … Continue reading
Dance Class Desert
I researched dance classes after relocating to a new state. I’d been rehearsing with an African dance troupe for several months. I wanted to continue dancing even if I had to pay for classes rather than be a part of a performance group. Just as I’d feared, not only were there no African dance classes, … Continue reading
Cashless
Obviously, when I say “cashless,” it’s not like in my younger days, which was synonymous with “broke.” Now that I’m middle aged, I’m paycheck-to-paycheck broke, but that’s still not what I mean by “cashless.” In this day and age, I no longer touch cash. I thought we were all on the same page about this. … Continue reading
Never Ignore Your Spidey Senses
So happy on my 1st day of vacation. Leading up to this glorious day, I’d been furiously packing up to donate, ship or load my things into my fuel-efficient car to relocate back home to NC. With average Austin rents rising 40% and average one-bedroom apartment rents increasing 108% from one year to the next, … Continue reading
Quick Trip to San Antonio
I threw on a cute dress, put my hair up and switched purses to look more presentable than my usual work-from-home attire to attend an out of town event at a house museum in San Antonio with one of my cousins and a friend. We’d underestimated the traffic and arrived much later than we’d anticipated. … Continue reading
4th of July 2022
For this Fourth of July celebration, I made three new friends…a couple and their dog. Our mutual friend had extended the invitation because the couple were relocating to NC at the beginning of August. Since I’m from NC, I gave them the inside scoop even though it had been decades since I lived in the … Continue reading
My Sister’s Wedding Anniversary
Even though I was in my sister’s wedding ceremony 33 years ago, I wouldn’t have remembered the date if it wasn’t for my father. Dad is a numbers guy. I don’t know how many other ambidextrous people who are also good at math or have a “thing” for numbers. Yet I’m thinking that Dad, if … Continue reading
Juneteenth 2022
This year, I had the pleasure to resume my volunteer duties with the George Washington Carver Museum for their Juneteenth celebration. Although I didn’t reprise my historical character interpretation as Freewoman Mattie Gilmore, I was so happy to be in the mix for the morning shift. Afterwards, I attended one of the genealogical workshops. A … Continue reading
Not Too Full of It
I’d known for years that I needed to get a colonoscopy. Even when I learned that Black people should get the procedure done at age 45, I still made excuses. Finally, when the good insurance kicked in with the new job, I started the routine check up circus–the so-called managed health care in the US. … Continue reading