July Travels

I haven't written a blog in over a month and I'm so sorry!!!. I have been slipping, but I've had a lot going on, and now, I'm going to share. Hopefully by the end of this post, you'll understand why it has taken so long for me to write. For my mom and I, the month of July is our vacation month. Its right before I go back to Mississippi, and before teachers go back to school, (Hint: she's a teacher). We left for D.C. the first week of July, and came back the first week of August, and within that time frame, so much stuff went left.

It all started going downhill before we even got to the airport. We were supposed to catch a bus to Memphis, because its cheaper to fly out from Memphis that it is from Arkansas. The bus was late, so we were forced to drive and in the end, missed our flight. We get to D.C., everything was going great. My mom had a conference to go to with her sorority, I got to hang out and go to the mall, meet some new friends, it was fun. But then, about two days before we were supposed to leave, my mom fell on the sidewalk, and was basically incapable for the next few days.

We fly out, of D.C., to Orlando. I was attending the Miss Black US Ambassador/ Teen Ambassador Pageant, and my mom had an educators conference, and we stayed there for two weeks. While there, we stayed in an Air B&B which was really nice. We were staying with this really nice couple and they treated us as if they'd known us for forever which was really relaxing for me, especially, because I had Ill feelings about staying with strangers. The couple were both men, and they, of course, lived together. I don't want to get into too much dialog about the LGBTQ community, but I do personally support everyone and their decisions they make in their life. So while in our room one day, I was making the bed, and saw that whomever stayed there before us had written some pretty foul language on the walls of their home about them, their relationship, and the LGBTQ community as a whole and I immediately got sick. This might turn out to be a risky paragraph, but lets get into it. I have been targeted before because of my race. I'm African American, and I've been called the worst of the worst to my face and behind my back, I've been outcast, and affected by things that people do and say because of the color of my skin, but I've never experienced someone being shamed about their lifestyle. I felt so hurt and disgusted and spent the rest of my afternoon cleaning the walls as best as I could. After our two week adventure, we made it to the airport on time! But, when we got there, my mom realized she left her carry on in the driveway at our Air B&B. So in the midst of trying to figure out how to transport the bag to the airport and still make our flight, we missed our flight again.

We were originally supposed to fly to Baltimore for the Miss Exquisite International Pageant where I was supposed to be giving away my crown, (we'll get into that in a little while), but we ended up flying home because my mom was still feeling really sore from her fall. My mom made the decision to leave our cat at home while we left, and my grandmother would go over to the house to feed her every few days, but while we were gone, the apartment complex changed the locks to my mothers house and the cat was locked inside. The apartment complex wouldn't give my grandmother the key to the house because my mom had to get it. The police said basically there was nothing they could do about the cat inside, and basically wished us luck that the cat would be okay when we came home. So, my cat was at home alone, locked inside with no fool and a small amount of water for approximately three weeks. Luckily we had the chance to come home and get everything sorted out. When we got home, Cat was so small, frail, and dehydrated that it broke my heart. We had to nurse her with a syringe, and we ended up taking her with us to Baltimore. After about a week of Pedialyte, she was back to her regular, curious self.

We went to Baltimore because my year of being Miss Exquisite International Ambassador had come to a close and it was nationals time! I was so excited to be there, get to know the girls, and experience my last week as an international queen, but things didn't go according to plan. We got there a few days early to get settled in and prepare ourselves for the weekend. The day before the pageant started, we get a phone call saying that someone had broken into my moms house. So we had to pack up everything, and we left the next morning to come back to Arkansas. I didn't get to experience the competition, but my director and sister queens made me feel loved, and well appreciated even though I was miles away.

All in all, it was a great vacation. I met a lot of new people, got to tour our nations capital, spend time with family and friends, travel, and do so much more. Most importantly, I'm happy I got to spend time with my mom, and we both had a blast!

I want to be an interactive blogger, so, if you've ever had a vacation story that may have turned your vacation upside down, message me and tell me all about it! I'd love to know what happened!

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