"I Am From"

Dear Readers,

As all of you know (my mom, and the two friends that read this)...I'm back in school.  One day...three years from now I shall be a Rehabilitation Counselor.  For one of my Counseling classes this semester I had an assignment where I needed to write a poem about myself.  The poem needed to describe how my background contributed to the person I am today.  When I first read through this assignment I thought:  "This is going to be easy."  My second thought was: "There has to be some way I can incorporate Bone Thugz and Harmony into this thing."   I absolutely could not write a poem about my life and leave those guys out.  It would be a travesty.  

When I actually sat down to write it, I realized it was in fact not easy.  First of all, I couldn't remember the last time I wrote an actual poem.  Or, if I ever had.  Secondly, I had to summarize my life into this poem...in order to  make sense of why I am the way that I am (sidenote: that could be a book in itself).  I also had to be completely honest with myself.  So writing this took a lot longer that I thought it would.  It was tough.    

Naturally, in a class of future Therapists, we needed to share our poems and our correlated feelings to those poems.  So we had to read our poems aloud to our classmates and collectively reflect on our experiences.  It takes a lot to make me nervous...and reading my poem made me nervous.  I felt like I should of just worn a t-shirt that said:

"My Life Hasn't Been Perfect, And It Still Isn't Perfect, However I'm Giving This Thing Called Life My Best Shot".  (However, apparently no one makes those t-shirts...)  So I was on my own.  

What we learned from each other is that:  There wasn't a single person in that room that had had a perfect life.   Everyone's stories were different, unique, and imperfect.  And it was beautiful.  So in a room of twenty future Therapists we bared our souls, told our stories, and "Got Real". 

No worries...I'm not turning this blog into a place where I'm just posting my homework.  I do however want to keep myself accountable and grow as a person.  The only way I can do this is to put my life "out there".  That's why I started blogging in the first place.  When I am vulnerable things become clearer, and in turn I grow.  **Deep**  Also, true.

I know most of you want to read about really horrible dating mishaps, stories of my awkwardness, and borderline embarrassing follies....And trust me you will.  I have SO MUCH MATERIAL to work with.   Yet, today I had a moment where I had to "Get Real" with myself.  And I thought about this poem.  It's pretty real...so I thought I'd share.

“I Am From"

 I AM FROM…

I am from David and Debra, Horace and Cletha, Lamonte and Juanita.

From southwestern Missouri and rural Arkansas,

From a former booming manufacturing city and now a crime ridden land of inopportunity,

I am from a family of brothers.  From playing “kick the can” until it was dark out; to playing football in the yard.

From pizza lovers, peanut butter and jelly eaters, and a make-whatever-you-can-find in the fridge household,

From inconsistency, instability, humility, and often hilarity.   From a “fake it until you make it” attitude, a “laugh so you don’t cry” mentality.

I am from hard working, blue collared, factory workers.  From a family with the highest education being high school.

I am from the 80’s.  From the “Cosby Show”, hair bands, and acid-washed  jeans.

From a strict Baptist family; who eventually converted to less conservative Evangelicals.

From a family consisting entirely of Republicans.  From Reagan to George W. Bush.  I am the outsider.

I am from a pet loving family.  From dogs, cats, ducks, to bunnies; and once, a turtle found on the side of the road.

I am from an urban city, and yet, a rural school.  From high crime and gangs, to cornfields and tractors.

I am from Bone Thugz and Harmony, 2Pac, and the Notorious B.I.G.   From Bryan Adams to Richard Marx.

From missteps, to re-starts, and often utter ambiguousness.

My own path blazed out of a pure desire to succeed and yearning for something more.

From living life out of necessity; to living in truth and with purpose.

So there you have it.  That's where I'm from.

Where are you from??  Would Bone Thugz make it into your poem??  If not, who would?? 

Forever Blogging About Things You Never Knew You Wanted to Know,

Miss Oakley

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