March 16, 2010...8:10 a.m.
Usually if I go jogging, I'll go to Byrd Park in the afternoon. It was a little after 7 a.m. when we got here at the James. This was my first time ever running these trails and I must say it was pretty lovely. After a nice long muddy jog at the James River Trail, out here in Richmond, me and my friend Katie (aka Kem) sat down and chilled out. She works for the James River Parks and invited me to this nice scenery. She sat there discussing what she was going to do when she gets home before she goes to work because she doesn't have class. It was an off day for me. While she talked, my sights were on the nature. It was real quiet. The birds would churp every now and then and the river was moving but hardly made a sound. I'm laughing in my head because Kem is still talking but I'm not really paying her any mind at all. I get up and walk onto the big rocks just to be in the middle of this calm. The sun is trying to come out but the clouds are 'cock blocking'. Its like 50 degrees, a lil chilly. So I'm sitting on the third big rock I come to and along comes Kem. I tell her to look at the ducks in the river and that the scenery is nice. She smiles, pulls out her phone, and snaps a photo of the ducks. She tells me that she's gonna sit behind me so we can be back-to-back because if she lays down, she's gonna fall asleep. She does and puts her phone back in her bag then silence. It's like quiet for two minutes and she asks "What is on my mind?". I tell her "Alot!". She puts her head against mines and tells me that she comes here to release and sometimes draw. Yea, she can draw. I told her that this was a nice spot and I only seen a scene like this in movies. She exhales and says "Yup! That's why I like it here." I know she is gonna ask me her previous question again, but before she could, I ask her about her boyfriend. She tells me that he's fine. Their fine. And that she couldn't wait until the summer when they finally move in together. I knew she was smiling extremely hard because you can hear it in her voice. I tell her I'm happy for her because her man is a real cool dude. Then she reminisces on how we met almost a year back, just a few miles down river on 22th St. She told me that she remembers seeing me and my friend, Brandy talking and I had like this sad ore all around me. I smurked. Last year was the worst year EVER in my life. It's a burden I carry on my back everyday. I hold alot in and haven't fully released. I must admit there were times I wanted to but I'm a man. Got to be strong. So I tell Kem 'Yeeeah' and told her I remember walking to the trash can to throw away my Nestle Strawberry ShortCake ice cream wrapper. I tossed the wrapper to the trash and I guess the wind caught it. I wasn't worried on getting that wrapper so I tied my shoelace and was about to go back to my spot, when Kem tapped my back and said "Hey! Are you gonna throw this in the trash?". She might had been a cute white girl but I won't in a nice mood to be told what to do. But I apologized and reached to the wrapper and she pulled back and tossed it in the trash and said "Jordan!". I was amazed. You don't see a cute short white chick everyday with a nice jump shot form. We clicked since that day. Katie is a cool friend. She's from N.Y. but is here in VA attending VCU. We laughed at that thought because our 'code word' is "JORDAN!!!". She tilts back pushing me forward and exhales so hard that you can see her breath in the air. I ask her what's on her mind. She answers with a question, "Why do you think things happen the way they do?" I tell her that life is full of ups and downs, ironies and surprises. I tell her things happen for a reason, mainly to see how you would respond. You learn, live, and get stronger. If you want change, change it. That's why life is interesting. Even though I got a roof over my head, a job, car, and loving parents,family and friends don't mean that on the inside I'm all uppity too. I'm at a low spot in my life and like my mother said there's only one way to go and that's up. Then it felt like the Earth stopped spinning and there was a moment of silence. She exhales again and in a soft tone says "Jordan."
I thought that her last question was just something she wanted to know. But when I really think about it, it was a nice slick way to get her question answered. Just a piece of my mind. I Heart You Ms. Marie!!!
