school house rock

my elementary school had grades k-8, straight through. it was in the north bronx, in a place where first timers to the united states came together to give their kids the education they so desperately wanted for themselves.  most of our parents had accents.  after all, they were foreign but in the midst of those accents, children in a concrete jungle we considered a playground, created a life together.  i learned how to write, played my first game of kickball, did my first book report, had my first crush and my first best friend all in the same place.  my elementary school was the foundation, the place where i did the most learning and not just about George Washington or photosynthesis.

i learned loyalty. let me tell you how.

[check out my fresh bang via my mama's sponge rollers]

loyalty: i met some of my best friends when i was four years old.  when i walked through the brown doors that very first day, i took a vow unbeknownst to me.

i, t lloyd take you (my graduating class of 2000 even the ones that left before the color me puke graduation gowns) to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forward until death do us part.  

though time has slipped between us, there is a loyalty that lies in a twenty year friendship.  seeing their face for the first time in nearly ten years brought a sense of joy that felt so good it hurt.  no matter what we've done and who we've done it with, there is a loyalty that is as unique as our fingerprints.  as i've gotten older, i've grown to appreciate and learn that these relationships are not to be taken for granted.  those friendships are to be nurtured over time to remain golden and valued.  as i watch people throw around the word friendship, i am forever grateful that the best teachers of friendship are the students i grew up with.  through puberty, high school, children, boyfriends/girlfriends, husbands/wives, i have friends that have become family in those hallways those many years ago. my only regret is that we even let time come between us but then again, what would we have to talk about it if we never left?

so in the time we've been gone, we've had kids, breakups, husbands, loans, deployments, tattoos, braces, our first cars, our first jobs and graduations.  some things however are still the same. i'm still short, laticia is still tall. annie is still smart as hell. christina is still too nice for her own good. faraz is still pakistani. glen is still headstrong. evan is still silly. bryner is still funny and kimberly is still sweet. and tinoy? he's still tinoy. but now after all that and more, this is what twenty years looks like...family.

oh it's ladies night and the time is right, oh this is ladies night

OH WHAT A NIGHT

i always wondered what grown men talk about...hmm.

hugs and kisses

the two math genius' and evan...

we are just ensuring that the goods are indeed good.

no harm, no foul 

wink wink

pretty ladies

it's blurry i know but some things are better left unclear...

so y'all are just gonna pose like this?

always something to smile about when you have that many damn teeth!

group photo...um Evan? we're taking a picture but you clearly are not trying to hear it.

much love to annie, jade, dayna, samantha, candice, jordan, christina, eliza, nicolas [who just found out the real spelling of his name doesn't have an 'h' in it], ronald, marcell, jermaine, matthew, mariam, sean, whitney, uday, faraz, nicole, stacey and yarisme.

St. Ann's School