RIP Dr. Maya Angelou

I haven't experienced much death in my life and even those that have passed have not been the closest of family or friends to me.  I have yet to lose a parent or grand parent in my life or close relative or friend, I know I am blessed. To date the deaths that have impacted me the most was my Godmother and my boyfriend's Grandmother, but today we lost Dr. Maya Angelou.  

I can't even remember the first time I read "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" but I can tell you her life story told through her books left a mark on me like no other.  I recited "Still I Rise" at a Black History Month event in junior high school and had my photo featured in the Vallejo Times Herald the local newspaper, and man I thought I was SOMEBODY!!  Maya Angelou had a past, but was intelligent, came from nothing and turned to into something out of this world.  She is inspirational! 

But it just hit me, I cannot see her die in vain and this is what she has given to me.  You see today I realize you leave your mark by what you teach others.  You learn by living life, not just waking up day to day but truly living life!  I plan to love others, teach others, uplift others, but most importantly I will let others return those things to me.  I have held on to anger, pain, and frustrations that have blocked my blessings for a long time. I have blocked people out of my life and the ones I let in, I always felt they had done me wrong, but in the end I did myself the disservice by not valuing myself.  Questioning people and their love and loyalty towards me, seeking others to validate who I am, all of this is a path I have traveled for awhile now. But the truth is I am  fearfully and wonderfully made. I am a child of God who seeks to do right in this world.  I want to have a God fearing family and make a mark in this world.  I am taking this time to thank Dr. Angelou for sharing her gifts with the world, for overcoming all she overcame and for showing me that it is ok to be ME and no one in the world needs to give this to me because it is within myself, I am a PHENOMENAL WOMAN! 

"You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them."

- Excerpted from Letter to My Daughter, a book of essays (2009)

"Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud."

- Letter to My Daughter, a book of essays (2009)

"Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope."

- Angelou's Facebook (Jan. 11, 2013)

-KD