South Carolina

Given its professional stability, I decided to major in Nursing. I applied the latter part of my sophomore year, and was accepted. By this time, I’d met Joseph. He was my religion teacher and the pastor of one the local churches. He and his very pregnant wife were moving into the church’s parsonage and needed someone to help them clean. In need of extra money, I volunteered.

His wife greeted me at the door and pleasantly gave me instructions on what needed to be cleaned before they left. She stood about 5’6” tall with latte colored skin. And at 9 months pregnant, there wasn’t much she could help me with. I was on my own. The entire day, I swept, mopped, wiped and trashed everything they had left behind. That encounter turned into a 21 year relationship. He, his wife and their (now grown) daughter became my family. Not aware at the time, God was doing his work. He was strategically placing people in my life….provisioning. Joseph and his wife fed me, bought books, nursing uniforms, 14 K uniforms and transported me wherever I needed to go. There home was my home during summer and holiday breaks. It was as if they were filling in for Sister Shirley and Ms. Nichols. I’m so grateful.

My first three semesters in Nursing school were a breeze. I was able to manage carrying and reading those heavy ass books and my Marching Wildcat responsibilities. However, my senior year wasn’t as easy. I believe by this time RCO and I had broken up. We had grown apart and I had found out about shenanigans that brought our three year courtship to an end (I know y’all want to know …..so nosy, lol).

And in the band camp preceding my senior year, there we were, sitting in our band director’s office. He had always been there, but went unnoticed. We were joined by a mutual friend, and while shooting the breeze, I became conscious of him. Right underneath my nose was this extremely intelligent young man that was also cool as hell. He was from South Carolina and made that very clear to everyone he encountered. And it wasn’t that superficial pride that most of us have. Not only did he know about South Carolina’s raw history, but the tone of his voice and conviction on his face when he talked to you made you feel like you were in South Carolina. That was definitely engaging to me and our mutual friend sensed it. He then positioned himself as our official “Love Connector”. The only problem was the he was still in a relationship….