Since the letters began to slow and altogether cease at the height of electronic mail and Internet, I’ve pondered what to do with this collection of mine. Why do I fancy these letters anyway? I’ve already confessed that I haven’t re-read them. Surely I would never allow them to stay boxed up in a corner collecting dust. No. Never.

I’ll need to discard them. Not later, but almost suddenly. Immediately!

I can’t go on keeping them. They’ve no practical purpose in my present life. Yes, I love to drift back down memory lane where as a teenage girl I loved collecting them and reading them without haste. Those days are gone. Now you send me email or tweets which I don’t necessarily rush to open or read. Maybe I’ll send my electronic response in return, but it all depends if I feel like it. (You know, information overload.) Looking at your letters today I still love the ones where you glued confetti to the yellow wide-ruled paper or the colorful Hello Kitty and Lisa Frank stationary where you scribbled and managed decent penmanship at best. Sometimes the paper stock was simple, but the cursive used to relay your crushes and everyday happenings, were to be marveled. These are the things I miss most when opening my physical mailbox.

So, what I’ve decided is in my great scheme to compact, decrease and preserve space and memory keepsakes, I will archive your letters, as if they are works greater than any others ever created. I will scan them in one-by-one, front-and-back with envelope and postage stamp until they are all digital images of moments which feel long gone. From there I will proceed in making a book with all your letters. This book won’t be for sale and it won’t be on display for others to read. With it I may also leave a present day response or notes on carefully placed blank address labels. Perhaps commentary on penmanship and selection of stationary will be included with a prolog as to how much I prefer snail mail to today’s impersonal electronic musings, rants or raves.

There are a lot of letters in these boxes from many of you. Some of you I cannot remember how we met. Maybe this project will trigger my memory. However it ends, I will keep your letters. Not the physical ones, but something like it.

My latest BLURB photo book project is almost a wrap! After two solid weekends of work and long hours on the computer this second collaborative effort is looking quite smashing. I’m hoping the proof copy says the same. Having the first book to use as guide made the process of creating this second one much easier and faster. I didn’t veer far from the layouts of FIRST, because it worked so well. The only problem this time was there being three more volunteers from this group (three extra team member spreads) and A LOT MORE photos. I couldn’t use several shots of the ladies in the group who made injera simply due to page restraints. I made myself keep the book to a 160 page limit so not to drive the $$$ – cost up and to be able to have premium paper stock.

This is a what the section/chapter dividers look like. I scanned in a copy of the blueprint of a chika house provided to me by the HFHI Ethiopia National Office. Then, I used two photos that best went with the section content. The cover will have a similar look to keep consistency, but I’m still mulling over the back cover content.

Team member pages are the same as the previous go-round with the exception of the bio pages. In order to try to squeeze in as many photos as possible, I tucked one behind the text and kicked the opacity down between 16%-20%. Hopefully everyone will be able to read the text easily. I have to remind myself not everyone can read certain text/font color combos well.

Although this is the second book for an Ethiopia Global Village trip led by me the book will be actually be titled “Seven” or “Seubat.” Looking forward to seeing the finished project and as always, hoping those who were involved use it as a tool to get others involved.

Fade in. When I was a teenager I got my first after school job the day after my 16th birthday. Actually, my mother found the job for me, but that is besides the point. I was the one who spent my evenings working at the local dry cleaners. I worked there day in and day out for nine months and every week’s pay went towards my most valuable and prized collection of compact discs. I’d make my trip over to Best Buy each weekend to exchange my hard earned money for a total of six of the latest releases. My operation was like clock-work: get pay check, spend it, get pay check, spend it… Smashing Pumpkins, Eminem, TLC, Wu-Tang, No Doubt, Stone Temple Pilots, and Beenie Man – I had to have them all and more.

Cut to. My family had to move to Hawaii during my Junior year of high school which placed a slight halt in my routine and weekly pay. I couldn’t stand the thought of not working and providing for myself (expanding my collection). I hit the jackpot In Hawaii though. I landed a job at a music store in Ala Moana mall and later Pearl City. A dream!! Working at the music store made it far too easy to feed my covetous ways. Every check out went right back in and more music was added to my insanely growing music library. One day when I had a lot of extra money to spend (a whole different story) I decided to buy somewhere around 55-60 CDs in one day. If it wasn’t for my store discount I would have easily spent $1,300+, but my total was about $980. No sweat. I was so impressed with myself that I took a picture with the receipt and saved the photo and the receipt. (I have the receipt around here somewhere.)

The college years rolled in before I knew it and off I was to Los Angeles for higher education in the world of arts! Because it can take a month for your goods to arrive from Hawaii to the mainland I decided my music could not be left behind. I refused to be without it. Thankfully some genius had created these CD books that could store 256 CDs in one case. I purchased two and loaded them up for the plane ride to Los Angeles too. Now for some reason my memory says hauling them through HNL was a breeze, but there is no question about the way I was feeling once I reached L.A. My scrawny little bi-ceps were burning while walking through LAX. I must have looked pathetic because a kind brother of Islam stopped selling his bean pies to ask if I needed any help. He was probably thinking something like, “Poor covetous creature…” I thanked him politely and continued to wait for my aunt to arrive.

After college and some real life work experience in the music video industry, I needed to retreat away from Los Angeles. I was in dire need to clear my head and figure out what I really wanted to do with my life. I once had a cozy apartment in West LA and some lovely IKEA furniture with credit card debt to prove it, but these things weren’t keeping me happy. I got rid of it all. Of the few things I held onto, you best believe my CD collection was one of them. It had grown somewhere into 1,000+ and I packed each of them up in alphabetical order in this great little boxes my friend got for me. He worked at Tower Records at the time so they were perfect for my music. And the story continues with me and my pal Angel hitting I-10 east bound to Florida. I came back home to mama with all of my CDs.

The escape from Los Angeles to Florida was back in 2003. Which means seven years have passed and the CDs strangely enough never came out their boxes. I listened to my favorites (Bjork, Zap Mama, Les Nubians, etc.), but the rest stayed tucked away out of sight and out of mind. Fade out.

Now I don’t want them anymore. Gasp. It isn’t that I don’t like the music anymore. Wait. Hold that thought. Everyone knows teenagers are the biggest spend thrifts and I was VERY generous with my music purchases back in the day. I hate to say this, but I have two Jessica Simpson CDs, every Mandy Moore CD and I think I had every Montell Jordan CD as well. :/ The list of music I probably should have never purchased can go on and on. So, I like at least one song from each artist, but I don’t like the space the discs take up. I’ve actually gotten rid of some hundreds of CDs in the last three months and there are only a few hundred left. The same goes with what was starting to become an amazing DVD collection. Note: I have great taste in films.

All this is to say: I went through leaps and bounds to keep them under my protection, but now the further they go away from me the better off I feel. Since the mp3 world took over long ago I also thought it might be wise to get ride of them before they become something like my mother’s record collection. That probably won’t happen too soon, but I’ll be ready when it does because I’ll have no CDs on hand. My music now lives in a portable external hard drive perfect for carrying anywhere. Getting the music onto the hard drive was a process. Imagine weekends transferring thousands of songs to a hard drive. Ugh! This is my way of saying I still value listening to music, but I no longer value having my space consumed by their discs. Sadly, the memories associated with them aren’t truly pleasant. How silly could I have been? Tis’ my friends is the story of a once prized collection of CDs.

Do you have something that consuming your your space? If so, do you plan on getting rid of it? What is the story behind it?

Without a doubt, I’ve been a highly blessed and favored woman wallowing in the joys of sweet, sweet happiness throughout 2010. It is as if the universe positioned all the key ingredients for an awesome year right in the palm of my hand. Before I take my annual stroll down the year that was, I should provide some disclaimers to the secrets of my abundant joy. First one being, I’m broker than a church mouse. (That’s something my mama might say.) Yep! I did NOT expand my bank account with $$$. I did NOT tuck a little extra into my 401k or increase my stock options. I have neither. (But I do have Jesus!) I can’t even say I made any major career advancements. (Nada – Although you said it would happen Ms. Susan Miller. It didn’t.) Another side note: My children’s book “Isaac and the Bah Tree” didn’t soar the top-sellers lists, but ya’ll can still support a sister and get your copy here.

On the flip-side, I managed to suck dry every mile in every frequent flier program I’m enrolled with which lead me to some fairly exotic destinations. And don’t let me fool you into thinking my very merry matrimony to the most amazing man in my life took a back seat to my usual globe gallivanting highlights. (P.S. I got married this year in case I missed getting the memo to everyone. Click here if: A. You missed the memo. B. Are seriously nosy. -OR- C. Wish to know about our forces combined.) Aside from my husband’s love and affection, I was able to be surrounded by the good company of friends near and far.

So that’s the summary. Just beyond these type-written words is the 2010 full-shebang accompanied by pictures, links and more. (I did my best to keep it flowing in chronological order.)

Let’s hit it!

January, February and March were pretty dull. Can’t recall anything spectacular that occurred. Those cold Florida wintry days were consumed with the following: A. Working 40 hour weeks on a temporary assignment. B. Planning my elopement ceremony. AND C. Crafting up ways to visit places outside of Tampa.

In sticking to my usual theme of par-taking in activities, events and social-networks that the average Black American chick usually does NOT par take in, I did recite a poem in Farsi during Norooz this year. My most awesome tutor at the Infinite Edge Learning Center here in Tampa put me up to the challenge during a local Norooz celebration. No footage/pictures exist of my moment there, but you are welcome to hear me recite the poem here. Strange cookie – midoonam.

Flash forward to April. After fulfilling my commitment with the temp agency, it was time to have some fun. How so? By going to Kaua’i (a small tropical island mass belonging to the state of Hawai’i) with my then-fiancee. You might recall at the end of 2009 my being victorious in a Trazzler ‘Island’ Writing Contest, which landed me and my lucky dude an opportunity to va-cay in the Aloha State. (Sumo size Mahalo to everyone who voted once more!) Safe to say we had an incredible time.

Revisit my 2010 Kaua’i experience here.

Upon my return from Kaua’i, I was summoned by the U.S. Census Bureau. On I went for another stint as an office clerk at a new local LCO. If you’ve ever seen an episode of ‘The Office’ or better, worked at a government office – you can imagine what the environment was like. I have to say that I met some really unique individuals during my short employment there. Because they made the job so enjoyable I am going to give them a round of sound right here and right now. (Jhessye, James, Sandra, Michelle, Tracy, Ray, Flor, Lyon, Patricia, Dan, Linley, Elaine, Eric, Carol, Trish, Jonathan, McPhail, Chris and even Mr. Dixon — it was a tremendous pleasure being your colleague from April to August. Thank you for the song, cakes, laughs, flexibility, energy, patience and more. Thank you.)

Moving onward into May, my elopement planning was pretty much complete which only meant one thing: party time! I opted to mix and mash my birthday and bachelorette fiesta into one so twice the amount of fun could be had. I was fortunate enough to have most of my best gal-pals come from out-of-town to celebrate with me. As one can imagine, we did the manicure / pedicure thing, visit to the bridal shop, beach, club, dinner and made a trip to Orlando. Thank you to all my gorgeous girlfriends for being part of this.

Revisit my 2010 Birthday/Bachelorette weekend experience here.

June was all about wedding bells. It was about counting down the final days of being a semi-unclaimed and unhonest woman. It was also about answering the question: Why Montana? On Thursday, June 17th, 2010 – I proudly became Mrs. Abiodun. With that being said, don’t let me forget the amount of time I spent in June getting people to say the new surname right. Still in need of a how-to yourself? Reference the July video blog.

Revisit my 2010 Marriage in Montana experience here.

July was snoring boring so I’ll bypass the details of cleaning house and clipping my toenails since those are fairly uneventful happenings. August stood for Argentina. This is the trip I did not truly plan for, did not budget for or probably should not have even gone on, but I am glad I went. Natalie and I always have a good time when traveling together, so I’m pleased she made the suggestion of going somewhere before children appear in our freshly married lives. We ate well, met some awesome people (Celina, Pablo, Nazeli and Solana) and did what tourists do when in Argentina. What we did not do well was speak Spanish. We should really get better at that.

Revisit my 2010 Buenos Aires & Salta, Argentina experience here.

Enter September where I spent a few days in my favorite U.S. state – California. This trip was purely pleasure (for the majority) and consisted of going out with friends, visiting family and the tour of babies! Very many thanks to my amigo Quar Brown for taking these deliciously vibrant photographs of me in the Artists District in downtown L.A.

Revisit my 2010 California experience here.

Later in the month I ran a full 26.2 marathon in Toronto, Canada. You’ll notice I didn’t seem very happy after crossing the finish line. I wasn’t. Let’s just say disappointed THEN and thankful for the good health and experience NOW. I’m also very thankful when moments like this are captured in photos. Not everything I do or go through ends with a big cheesy smile. This was one of those moments.

Revisit my 2010 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon experience here.

Come October I was back in Ethiopia leading my third Habitat for Humanity GV project. I spent ten days in Debre Markos working on the last seven plots of houses and a few days relaxing in Addis. From Ethiopia I went on to Zanzibar, an island situated off the coast of Tanzania. Visiting an island in the Indian Ocean was something I’d been hoping for forever. If you’ve got this on a bucket-list some place, get to it! Allow me to suggest Zanzibar. The place is simply stunning. The people are friendly and the food is delicious. The air always carries the smell of fragrant spices.

Revisit my 2010 Global Village Ethiopia experience here and my Zanzibar photo gallery here.

Last month I started temping again, so life took a slight turn for the unexciting. (You know I’m just being a brat.) Aside from finding my 40 hour 9-5 work groove again, I made some successful efforts at just cooling it around the house. Hung with the fam-bam, my friends and so-on. EJ and I scoped out the larger than life sand castles and carvings at Siesta Key. FUN! I celebrated my friend’s last fling the weekend before her wedding. Both were bucket loads of fun. I always love hanging out with a group of drama-free, fun and intelligent ladies. Two cheers for girl power. They were also great sharing the camaraderie of being a bridesmaid or simply part of the party. My friend married during Thanksgiving weekend and it was quite an event. I am thankful to have been invited and I wish the happily shackled couple an eternity of love. The photos below were taken by Akada Studios out of Atlanta.

Revisit my 2010 Naija Wedding Bridesmaid Experience here.

This final month of the year was/is much like the rest of the year in theme. A little hard work, a lot more play and 12 times the laughter. Although the winter solstice was greeted by an amazing lunar eclipse, I’m still hating the weather these days. It slows me down almost to sloth like speeds. I only wish to stay indoors and hibernate like all the smarter species do during times of coldness. Because I am a lowly human being I am forced to be productive and make the most of every breathing moment. Huzzah & Hooray! If you are a regular reader here you probably just read about the quick weekend warrior trip to Troy, Alabama where I went with my mom and hubby to surprise my bestie during her 3rd decade born day celebration. She’s actually a Christmas baby so I suspect she’ll be celebrating more this weekend.

Aside from that I’ll be spending these last dog days of 2010 gearing up for 2011. More on that to come.

Other noteworthy moments:

Previously I dedicated August to Argentina. Well, I should also dedicate it to African Ancestry and the anticipation of my paternal ancestry test results compliments of my father. I now see Cameroon and the Tikar people as a future journey worth taking. I cannot thank my father enough for this wedding gift. There is so much research to be done though before trip to the country can occur.

Hmmm… I went kayaking for the first time in Kaua’i this year, but my swimming skills have not improved. Perhaps I’ll toss it on my list of resolutions once more.

My analogue cameras got more play than ever this year since I started with my Lomography addiction in 2003. They challenge me in more ways than others and I’m just starting to pick up speed. I just wish film and photography wasn’t such an expensive hobby like traveling. To conclude this year end journey, I leave you with a gallery of some shots taken with my toy cameras across the globe.

Enjoy and have the happiest of holidays. Here’s to many good years to come and the ability to be strong in the years that test our spirits the most. (Trust me, I’ve had my share of those.)

Cheers,
Adrienne

My mind had placed me back 11 years past. The clothes I wore-I could see them exactly and I could feel them against my skin. Even at this very moment I can remember the exact blend of the fabric – 65% cotton/35% linen. Not all that unusual for someone who spent their after-school hours around other people’s dirty laundry. My blouse was a sleeveless button up with a collar and white. My bottoms were typically khaki colored skirts, shorts and sometimes pants. This was my uniform at the dry cleaners, my first real job ever during high school.

He was a clean-cut gentleman, twelve years my senior and a patron at my job. He might have been in a time or two before the day he dropped off his business slacks for cleaning and politely asked if we could exchange contact information. A bit shocked, I inquired whether he knew my age or thought differently about my youthful appearance? What was his angle? Where was he going or did he want to go? Did he not know I had a boyfriend at my high school who I was insanely in love with?

My hands were starting to turn into fleshy, shriveled, human raisins, signaling it was time to cut off the running water I’d been wasting and snap-to. Still, I was there in the memory. Then I thought that if I could return to the past how I’d like to go in his shoes. And forgive me if this sounds a bit narcissistic, but I’d want to meet myself fully dressed and ready to dry clean your clothes-his clothes. I’d like to see his perspective of me.

Never ever did I think he’d be the one I would be marrying soon. Did I not mention how madly and wild I was for my teenage love? Did I ever see it coming? Could I have imagined or dreamed it? No.

Does it feel good? Yes.

Childhood memories took flight this weekend while working the Virtual Army Experience at the AirFest on MacDill AFB. My pops was stationed here 13 years ago on a joint assignment (Army/Air Force) at CENCOM. I never lived on MacDill AFB, but plenty of trips were made to the BX and the commissary in those days. My fuzzy memory won’t let me recall if we attended this particular airshow all those years back as one whole family. What I do know for certain is that my adrenaline junkie of a dad escorted us to one, if not two in my childhood.

However, the past two days weren’t completely fueled with nostalgia. I was working this event with a promo crew of approximately 16 people. Our mission: Register guests as they approach the entrance doors to the VAE and then de-register them on their way out. It is safe to say everyone I worked with accepted this mission, but some were moaning much more than others. The days were long. Saturday was filled with sunshine; Sunday was filled with t-showers and late afternoon sun. Both days were equally hot.

Lined up to participate in the Virtual Army Experience. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Throughout each day several military related thoughts crossed my mind. My mother ceased her career in the U.S. Air Force after my bro was created in 84′ and my father did his Army time ending at Lt. Col. To some degree I am a product of the armed forces. I traveled the country, living in nine states on the coat tail of my parent’s careers. I loved each new move and awaited each departure. In short, I think my parents, our travels, and the military lifestyle molded me into a pretty well-rounded being. Which always brings people to the question:

“Why didn’t you join the Army?”

Who? Me? The answer to that question is a lot longer and not nearly developed as much as I would like for it to be, so I am going to refrain from trying to explain myself here. Ask me about it in person sometime if you really care to know. I can say, neither one of my parents would have wanted me to join in this day and age, but they would have respected my decision had I decided to do so.

Some other thoughts that came about was in response to the loud planes soaring above at ridiculous speeds in the sky. For instance, I’m not sure I think it is cool to waste fuel and cruise around in the sky for show; though I have to admit there was one plane that was flying so fast in the sky that it grabbed a cloud. I mean it literally took a chunk of the cloud with it for a while. Can you imagine it? My second thought about the incredible machinery up above was, it’s cool at an airshow, but picture being in an occupied country with fighter planes flying above almost day in and day out. That wouldn’t be so cool.

My heart strings have been torn in two directions regarding the military and military family life. I wish recruiting marketing tactics like that in which I was involved this weekend didn’t have to be like so. I wish that some of our past president’s hadn’t made defending out country look like such a horrific duty. I mean it can be if you aren’t certain of your true mission. I am proud to have a strong army in my country. I am proud of my friends who have served multiple times abroad in the least desirable locales. I welcome those coming home and pray for a safe return to those leaving once more.

I could go on for a lifetime talking about this subject. I lived a part of my lifetime being part of it. I know I have jumped around in this entry. I am sorry. I guess I should sort this thoughts out in private, but I just wanted to share where I’d been this weekend physically and mentally. If you’re a military brat out there share anything you’d like to share about your experiences. If you have a child deployed drop a line here too and I will keep them in my prayers. If you’ve decided to make the leap and join the big guns, then I commend you. If you just like airshows say you’re name and where you’re from.

Either way, thanks for checking in on me today and today, Adrienne is a military brat for life.