For Real, Black Don’t Crack!

As I  reflect on the end of 2017 and begin my journey through 2018 I realized something very profound and relevant to my life…well…I realized that black don’t crack!!! Yes, I said it.  LOL. You thought I was going to say something really deep and profound right? Hey, that is deep and profound “Black don’t crack! For real.  The reason why I say that is because I just recently got back from Vegas celebrating my Bf’s 45^th birthday.  It was a full on girls trip, although not exactly like The Hangover, but perhaps a cornucopia of sorts.  I would say Oceans 11, The Hangover, The Golden Girls, School Daze mixed in with  Girl’s Trip. Yep, that’s exactly how I would describe our trip.  It was cool to be in the midst of beautiful black women in all different shapes, sizes and hues. Women of various ages with their own kind of style.

I was in the company of women in their 30’s, 40’s and 60’s.  And let me tell you these women were no duds. They liked to have fun and get their party on.  Now, you know that I can’t go into any real detail as I abide by the rule of “What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas.” However, I will tell you that we toasted it up, popped some bottles, heard the Thunder Roar, sat in a bed of Lilly’s,  ate like Queens’, danced until our feet hurt and of course did a little betting on black.   You get the jest.  But more importantly than having fun it was nice being in the midst of intelligent women who all had different experiences and perspectives to offer in the areas of work, relationships, finances, politics and religion.

There were moments when we took time out of our day to sit down like we were on a panel at a Women’s Conference or sitting at the breakfast table at your Grandma’s house; and just sat back and sipped on coffee and tea and talked about the issues of the world.  We even had an entire dialog about fried chicken and biscuits (you had to be there!).  However, when we touched on the subject of working in Corporate America as a black woman, we all had some of the same experiences no matter what positions we were in. In fact, during that conversation we had to go around and give each other the high five on the experiences.  You know the experiences…the one where we have to work harder than our counterpart or the one where if you work like a “Rock Star” they expect it and rely on you so much that they panic when you go on vacation…because you basically do their work? You know what I’m talking about? Those experiences.

Anyway……

It was indeed refreshing to have these types of conversations with women who had their own opinions. Now, we may not have always agreed with each other but there was a level of respect and love that was felt throughout the entire weekend. Drama free is how I would describe it. See…ok I’m digressing a bit…but when you are in the midst of GROWN ASS WOMEN…you run the risk of having a DRAMA free time. Yes I said it,  a DRAMA free time.  See when you are in your 40’s the only drama that you can possible stomach is the drama that you see on the Real Housewives  and even then I can only take so much. But in real life, ain’t nobody got time for that!!!  Ok, back to the story….

One of the women who hung out on this Vegas trip was my mom.  She had a blast. I love spending time with my her.  The best way that I can describe my beautiful mother is Clair Huxtable.  She is classy, beautiful, super smart and hilarious.  Not many women can say that they enjoy spending time with their mom on a girl’s trip, but I do. And she fit right in with the rest of my friends and other ladies who were on the trip. One of the things that I love about hanging with my mom is that I can be “Kim” around her. What do I mean by that? Well, I don’t have a potty mouth but I’ve been known to drop a few choice cuss words in conversation, and I can take my humor to another level at times and I can most certainly drink more than my mom as she is a light weight. But nevertheless, my mom accepts me for who I am and I accept her for who she is.  I would have to say that is the definition of unconditional love!

So why am I writing this particular post? I will tell you. In my 40’s I’ve learned to embrace the knowledge, love and beauty from women of all ages.  And I have been blessed to have real friendships with women of all ages. I have great friends who are like my little sisters in the their 20’s,  best friends in their 30’s and 40’s and I even am friends with women in the their 50’s and 60’s.  Some of these women are friends of my mom’s.  See what I learned is that age is really just a number.  Being in the midst of women of all ages is a lot of fun. You can learn so much from each other. If you have not had the opportunity to sit down with a group of women from all ages, I suggest you do so STAT! You will be pleasantly surprised at how much fun you will have. If you can’t do a girl’s trip, do a girl’s night out. I’m telling you, it’s worth it.