On Watch night in 2008, my prayer was to gain my independence and finally do what God had planned for my life. I chose teaching and it was not fulfilling anymore. I waited patiently until the perfect opportunity presented itself. I interviewed for a position on my 35th birthday. It was a position that was very different from my idea of a change. I was offered the position immediately so I had the best birthday ever, a new position and a new state. Soon after that position was dissolved and a teaching position was offered with the promise that position would come available the next school year…..never happened.

Coming to a new state wasn’t necessarily scary, I was so ready for a change. I was tired of Detroit. I felt like I was on a platform and the train never stopped for me. I was not happy with my career, living situation or relationship. I know myself like no one else despite people telling me what was best for me. I was suffocating from the dictation of my life but that is what I once needed. I knew this move was definitely taking the training wheels off and the train finally stopped for me. So now I am in NYC alone but happy kind of. I was still in a career that I have outgrown like I had outgrown Detroit. I always said “When I leave DPS I will not be teaching anymore kids!”, but I ended up doing that. So although my career isn’t one that I pictured myself to be in I was determined to embrace not being in Detroit anymore.

I came to NYC on August 5, 2012 with a job and hotel room reserved for a month. My two friends Tonya and Torea rode with me and stayed until I was all set with finding an apartment and securing delivery for my furniture. I located my apartment at the end of my first full day. It was perfect for me. I didn’t know what to expect about living arrangements in NYC except small. My apartment is much bigger than expected, my own little Carrie Bradshaw apartment, as my sister Regina calls it.