These have been some mighty dark days.
I have yelled at the tornado πͺ, for coming in and smashing up my life.
I have yelled at God for letting the damned tornado come in and smash up my life.
I have yelled at me for not being able to handle something small like an F4 πͺ tornado coming in and smashing up my life.
I have wanted to yell at family for…you get the point, beloveds. I have been wanted to yell at everyone and everything for my life being smashed up just now.
I even want to yell at mom, again, for having the absolute NERVE, to leave us all on Christmas morning 2016. Sheeeeeeeeeuut, mom. You could have waited and helped a sista out through this time.
The weeks, leading up to Christmas, are especially hard now. I have to gear myself up to NOT go into a dark place of unending mom grief.
I have done much better the past two years. This year, however,…whew!
I have fought the darkness ALL week. Relentlessly. I told myself I was okay. I told myself I would be okay.
One morning, the dark arrived and handed me a cup of β coffee. I was too tired to resist. The dark remained. The dark remains. Now, I have one question:
What do you DO with the dark days?
I have thangs to do. I have a job to find. I have pieces to π write. How can I DO these things in the dark?
I have asked God. He is as silent as it is dark.
I have asked The Universe. All I hear are crickets chirping.
I have asked my β₯ heart. My heart is too busy missing mom.
Thankfully, good habits came to the rescue. Good habits and 56 took charge. They sure are bossy!
I find myself dragging hard, fear, lonely, and grief out of bed each day. I ignore them. I make my β. I drink said coffee. I keep it pushing. I have thangs to do.
doing thangs in the dark,
Cassandra
#YourLifeMattersToMe
Note: Be encouraged. Your dark days shall have their end. In the meantime, know of a surety that you do not walk alone.
Remember, beloveds, that it is okay to not be okay until you are okay, once again. Okay?
I needed to remind myself of this. It’s okay to grieve mom. Yet, I shall show grief the door soon. Christmas is coming. I plan on spending it making mom some homemade brownies. Uh, oh!


One step.
One step.
One step.
You are loved.
You are NOT alone.
Keep on beingβ¦YOU!
- SUNDAY WITH CASSANDRA. IT ME!
- MOVIE SATURDAY WITH CASSANDRAππ¬π©πΏβπ¦ΌπΏπ
- (no title)
- Today…
- π¬ MAYBE THEY WEREN’T βTOO BLACK.β MAYBE I WAS STILL HOLDING THE RULER. πͺπBeloveds,I told you I caught myself watching Black romance movies and thinking:Too loud.Too boisterous.Too Black.π³And the Holy Spirit convicted me.Then I watched Deliver Us from Eva.WHEW.πBecause suddenly I wasn’t only watching Eva.I was looking at the ruler I sometimes used to measure everybody.Let’s start with Eva.She’s intelligent, professional, beautiful, protective, loving, bossy, controlling, loyal and complicated.All of it.πShe doesn’t have to become either the Angry Black Woman Who Needs Taming or the Strong Black Woman Whose Every Choice Must Be Defended.Eva needs correction AND Eva deserves dignity.She helped raise her sisters after their parents died. Protection became part of her identity.But eventually protection sometimes became control.βοΈ If I don’t manage everybody, everything will fall apart.π I can love grown people without controlling grown people.Her sisters need a key too.You cannot keep handing somebody the clipboard to your life and then get mad because she keeps writing on it.π€£Eva has to stop managing.Her sisters have to start owning.Everybody gets a chair.πͺAnd YESβTHE MEN TOO.π€£πͺπͺπͺπͺRay begins by deceiving Eva.That matters.But eventually βthe problemβ becomes a person to him.Eva.And Ray changes.π Sometimes genuinely knowing somebody destroys the caricature we created from a distance.But Ray deserves his own humanity too.He’s working, dreaming, saving, flawed, funny, romantic, masculine and tender.He doesn’t need to become a CEO before he’s worthy of love.There’s that ten-times-better ruler again.πThen Mike.Mike has a legitimate frustration with Eva’s interference.His solution?SIR. SIT DOWN.πͺπ€£Because here’s another key:π A legitimate grievance does not automatically make every remedy legitimate.Pain deserves acknowledgment.Choices still require accountability.Then Tim made me ask:What does a Black man have to look like before we consider him βman enoughβ?Dominant?Always in charge?Never soft?Never uncertain?Why?Tim doesn’t need more masculinity.He needs his voice.πA loud Black woman shouldn’t have to shrink.A quieter Black man shouldn’t have to perform dominance.Both get chairs.And Darrell?π€£Some people are intellectual heavyweights.And some people areβ¦Darrell.π€£β€οΈHE GETS A CHAIR TOO.Intelligence isn’t the admission price for dignity.Sophistication isn’t the admission price for love.Black people are allowed to be ordinary.Goofy.Messy.Wrong.Funny.Tender.Brilliant.Ridiculous.Rich.Poor.Loud.Quiet.Human.And suddenly the Holy Spirit’s conviction went deeper.Maybe I had become nervous when Black characters weren’t representing us βwell enough.βWhat will THEY think?Why are they so loud?Why aren’t they more polished?More educated?More professional?More respectable?Moreβ¦acceptable?π³And suddenly I’m not watching a movie.I’m conducting a performance review of Blackness.βοΈThat’s exhausting.Because Black characters should not have to carry the reputation of an entire people on their backs.And sometimes, without realizing itβwe help load the backpack.That was part of what the Holy Spirit showed me.Not merely:Cassandra, look at them.But:Cassandra, look at your ruler.πWho handed it to you?Why are you still carrying it?And I knew part of the answer.Ten times better.There was love and survival inside what Black folk taught me.They were preparing me for an unfair world.But:βYou may have to be ten times better to receive the opportunityβcan quietly become:βBlack people SHOULD be ten times better.βNO.β€οΈβπ©ΉI reject that.Black excellence is beautiful.Black dignity is unconditional.Eva gets correction and dignity.Ray gets tenderness and accountability.Mike gets frustration and responsibility.Tim gets quietness and voice.Darrell gets goofiness and dignity.The sisters get love and agency.Nobody has to become less Black.Nobody has to become ten times more human.EVERYBODY GETS A CHAIR.πͺπͺπͺπͺπͺπͺπͺAnd maybe that’s what the Holy Spirit was really asking me:Cassandra, why are you still holding the ruler?π³My answer?I’m learning to put it down.πAnd maybe you have one too.Race.Education.Disability.Age.Money.Accent.Religion.Politics.Body size.Mental illness.Addiction.Sexuality.Somebody whose life simply doesn’t look like yours.Don’t perform an answer for me.Be honest with you. For, HIM.ππΏWhat ruler are you carrying?Who handed it to you?Who have you measured with it?Have you measured yourself with it too?And if the Holy Spirit is showing it to you, maybe He isn’t giving you the ruler so you can beat yourself with it.Maybe He’s saying:Child. You don’t need that anymore.Put it down.πβ€οΈβπ©ΉPull up your chair.πͺLet somebody else pull up theirs.And let people be fully human in front of you.Includingβyou.π©πΏβπ¦ΌππΏβ€οΈβπ₯πAsking for A Friend,Cassandra#YourLifeMattersToMeNote: One step. One step. One step. You are loved. You are NOT alone. Keep on beingβ¦YOU!Unapologetically His.Unapologetically yours.



































