Logistics
Step number three, where would I work? This step was hard but not as hard as telling my mom. As you have already read, I was moving without a job for the simple fact that I needed time to get used to a totally new environment. No job security these days is a real problem to have. Again, here came faith. I prayed specifically to have a job after a month. That’s a pretty specific prayer, but I know my God and I knew he wouldn’t let me down.
I had gotten the job I was leaving in NYC through an employment agency. The company had hired me on full time immediately after the interview, so I didn’t work for the agency but directly for the company. This same agency is one of the top job placement agencies in the world. By this time I had already broken the news at my job and they were really supportive. The CFO even told me that if things didn’t work out all I needed to do was give them a call. The coast was all clear to contact the job placement agency, and that’s what I did. They were more than happy to look for a job for me in Maryland.
Now for steps one and two, the relationships I was leaving behind and where I would live, fell right into place after that. Patrick found a woman in the church that was willing to take me in for a price that was unbelievably considerate. I had a room and my own personal bathroom to top it all off. Step one was hard, but I truly am blessed with loving, supportive and generous people around me. I thought they would be mad at me but the teen ministry threw me a going-away party, they even made me a scrapbook that I will cherish forever.
The move commenced, and step three was the only thing still up in the air. My faith still had to endure for another month. I was having fun packing up, giving some of my clothes away and taking selfies in a mirror where I had written a countdown from day 10 to day 1, which was my official moving day. I took ten pictures of myself with a reflection in the mirror of the countdown with each number crossed out in turn. The top of the countdown was marked: To Baltimore. On the last day Patrick rode in on “Big Blue” to whisk me away. Instead of taking pictures of just myself in the mirror, the last picture included Patrick. We formed a heart with our hands around the crossed-out number 1.
My mom and her friend drove in my car, Patrick and I drove in “Big Blue”. I rode in the front with my prince, and my mom and her friend followed. As we approached my new place I was already happy. The neighborhood was gorgeous and my place was amazing. I saw my roommate Nakoya and she was more than welcoming. To this day I consider her one of the women I admire and who means a lot to me.
We all unpacked the cars, settled a little and were in the living room resting when I noticed that Patrick was a little quiet, and that’s really unlike him. The doorbell rang and Patrick opened the door. My brother Donovan from North Carolina, his girlfriend and my nephew were at the door! I leaped over an ottoman and jumped right into my brother’s arms. My mom looked at the person at the door, looked away, and then it hit her that her son was at the door. She got up, started screaming and gave him a huge hug. I couldn’t believe Patrick set this up. He knows how much my siblings mean to me. I can’t even really write about how special Donovan is to me. He is five years older than I am and moved out after high school to go into the Marine Corps. I was about thirteen when he left and ever since then he’s lived away. I’m getting emotional just thinking about how much I miss having him around all the time. Patrick is seriously unbelievable; sometimes I wonder if he is real. He is truly God-sent.
After that we all went out to eat, and the next day we went to church. Sitting next to my brother and the others in my family in church made me feel like I had the greatest support system in the world. This is what God wanted me to experience. Really this is just a small part of what God began to do in my life.