Oh, how I love September it’s my birthday month. Before September departs I want to reflect. I cannot believe how fast time has moved. It is hard to fathom fifty-six years have passed. It seems like just yesterday I was cutting up in school dreaming about my future.
Today, on this last day of September I reflect on my life and appreciate the wonderful journey I am on. I was raised by wonderful parents. Although my parents did not stay married my life was rich. I wanted for nothing. My parents were able to love and take care of me in separate households. They did it with so much class and respect for one another. I don’t feel like I missed out on anything. My mother passed when I was a young twenty-two year old. My father was remarried with three children and living in Virginia. I married my high school sweetheart. Before our divorce, we had two beautiful children. I have a career that I built from the bottom-up. That’s the way careers were made in the good old days. I started in the logistics industry as a Gal Friday. A Gal Friday does whatever is needed in the office. I learned fast and moved up quickly ultimately rising to Vice President of Operations for a Logistics Company. I earned a six-figure salary which afforded me to travel extensively further building my desire to see the world.
Please know what goes up will eventually come down. In 2008 the market crashed. I lost my job. The lifestyle I had come accustomed to slipped through my fingertips and my world changed drastically. Instead of sulking in uncertainty I packed my bags and moved to South Florida to reinvent me. I had lived in NY forty-six years. Forty years in Long Island and six years upstate in Ulster County. Moving was a huge challenge. I found myself in an unknown place. This move forced me to learn more about myself and demanded I push through.
Since being in Florida I managed to reinvent myself as a successful sales executive. I found love and lost love. As I continue on this journey I trust love will find me again. I’ll be ready for it. I know how blessed I am. I give thanks to God for His grace and mercy. I am so very grateful.
When the going gets tough you have to get tough and press forward or this world will eat you alive. I say all of this not to shine a light on me but to reflect and share a snippet of my life hoping that others are encouraged. If I can persevere you can too.
Be encouraged!!
♥
TRACI J. HINDS 