Thursday, October 18, 2007

22 Months Sisterlocked - Girl, where have u been?



Well, I tried to hold out until my two year lockversary, but my absence had some folks thinking I had fallen off the face of the earth, so I figured now that I have some down time, it would be a good time to post.

It's a long story...

Back in May when I realized that the real estate market was going totally crazy and a sista has two daughters, both in their last year of college, (translation: bills, bills, bills), I applied for a JOB. Yikes! Having been self employed for several years now, that was a trip. I was really just testing the waters but as it turned out, I interviewed, and was offered a position that I could not refuse, and the company, despite the fact that they needed someone ASAP, was willing to wait two months for me. Great!

Well in June, three weeks before I was to start my new position, I was leaving for Las Vegas to attend a family reunion. The airport shuttle was minutes away from my door. As I was walking down the stairs with my "overweight" suitcase, I took a step and dislocated my knee, tearing my ACL. The pain was excruciating. I let go of the suitcase and immediately sat down on the stairs. Just in that moment, the doorbell rang. It was the shuttle, there to take my son and I to the airport. I had to make a quick decision. Do I cancel this vacation and go to the emergency room? Or, do I man up and keep it moving. I decided that if I could stand and hop, I would go, and so I did. I had to be escorted through the airports in a wheelchair, and I flew from Sacramento to Las Vegas hobbling all the way. I arrived in Vegas, and hobbled to the rental car terminal, drove to my condo and looked up the nearest pharmacy store I could find. I went to the CVS and purchased a knee brace, stopped by my aunts hotel to pick up some Vicodin, and was cool for the time being. I was only there from Thursday to Sunday, and once I got home, I saw my doctor on Monday.

I was diagnosed with a torn ACL which was going to require surgery. Wondering how my job was going to take the news, I hobbled in to my new position on July 2nd and assured them that they had not gotten a two for one. Now, mind you, I'm the only black, hell, the only minority in the office. I might meet their EEO requirement, but they could not double count me for ADA credit. I told them what happened and that I would be needing surgery in the weeks to come. They did not so much as bat an eye. I worked from 7/2 until 9/20, and had my surgery on 9/21/07, job still in tact. Is God good or is God Great?

So here I sit, re-learining how to walk, going to physical therapy, and having my son and my husband wait on me pretty much hand and foot. Just waiting until I can go back to work.

By the way, I work for a very upscale, conservative, high end life insurance company, and never have my locks been an issue. Now I will admit that I did wear them curled to my two interviews, and it was curled when I started the job. I would say about two weeks after I started and my curls started to fall, I went freestyle. I was swimming quite a bit and it did not make much sense to have to wash and roll it every couple of days. No problem!

4 comments:

Aya said...

OMG, I just so happened to peak in on you and caught you at the right time. Welcome back!!!! Sounds like you have been through quite a bit. Sure hope things are better now. Your locks are really looking good. What growth!!

Chocolata said...

Thank you! I know, I have a lot of catching up to do to get my blog up to speed, but I've still been trying to keep up with everybody through the digest.

Alise M. said...

I caught your post on LIU and was so glad to read you were still around. I thought I had lost my locversary partner. Can you believe we're almost to 2 years? I hope your new job is meeting your expectations and providing you with the stability you need while the real estate market is going through it ups and downs. Looking forward to reading your future posts.

Chocolata said...

Hi Alise! I'm still here. Truth be told, I never left, I just went into lurk mode.

I'm very excited about our upcoming lockversary in December.