Hope everyone had a fantastic 4th of July! Which for most of us inner city urban dwellers has nothing to do with saluting our founding slave-holding fathers, or celebrating our independence – we still ain’t free! It’s more about surviving the first half of this year and catching our breaths before we tackle the remaining half

For me it is truly a celebration. As most of you know I moved into my own home which is located in Bed Stuy and I couldn’t be more at peace and thankful to our Father for His bountiful blessings. Sometimes I still cannot believe it. Then the monthly reminder in the form of a mortgage payment whisks me out of my dream state and snaps me back into reality. But regardless, there is nothing like owning your own.

Over the last few months, I took on the challenge of gardening – something I desperately tried to avoid. I am from the school of letting carpenters be carpenters and gardners and landscapers be gardners and landscaper. I am a publicist. I do PR. Not backyards. Besides, what does a kid from the projects know about gardening? That was something I was truly going to find out. After many failed attempts to find someone to labor in my backyard tilling the soil, laying sod (pre grown grass for those who like myself who may be unfamiliar with gardening vernacular) and planting flowers etc., I had to throw on the garden gloves and tackle it myself and what a fighting match it was.

It all began when I returned home from a 3 day staff retreat in Disney with my church family. We had left on that Wednesday, prior to the Memorial Day weekend with plans on returning Saturday (church folks have to do church). I already sent out invitation inviting folks over for a Memorial Day Bar B Que Housewarming affair. The list was 150 names long with over 75 confirmations. Prior to leaving, I had left an associate of mines to take care of the backyard while I was gone (a few days before I left, we had tilled the soil and planted a few flowers. However, the sod needed to be laid and the house had to be clean prior to guest arriving). Unfortunately, that person got sick while I was out of town which meant that nothing was done. Upon returning, not only did I have to clean the house, I also had to transport over 35 pieces of sod to my home and lay it down in addition to purchasing and assembling lawn furniture, cook and clean my home. Luckily I am a praying Christian and we all know no job and or task is too impossible for our Lord.
Since we got home so late on Saturday, I was unable to accomplish anything that day. I did manage to tackle some of the cleaning and preparation of the house (it was a house warming after all, which meant the house would be viewed and I wanted to make sure the home was well presented). However, with church the following day, I had a very small window to get a great amount of work done. So I took a deep breath. With little to no sleep, I got up the next morning and went to church, said my prayers and asked for direction and strength to take on the challenge ahead. The first thing I had to do was rent a truck so that I could go shopping for the food for the Bar B Que (that too was not taking care of). Thank God for relationships. My dear brother Alfonso agreed to help me by extended an invitation to BJ’s. Now, I was well warned about the affect shopping at BJ’s could have on a person. However, I thought I could handle it. Yet, my grocery cart, which constantly kept gathering items not on my immediate Bar B Q list, proved that I was falling prey.

After getting the grocery home, I went into cleaning mode and started cleaning the entire house which lasted until the morning. Without any sleep, I scurried over to Home Depot to pick up the sod. Without any help, I loaded 35 pieces of dirt into a rented van (which I had to return in less then 2 hours) and hauled it back to my home. Once I reached home, my dear friend Tony met me and took care of laying the sod while I made a quick dash to the grocery store to pick up last minute items before returning the truck. With less then 1 hours prior to the event taking place, we scurried around to water the lawn, clean up the dirt tracks we left behind, layout the food and fired up the grill. Without missing a beat, and a much needed shower, we open the doors ½ hour later to great the guest who had a great time eating, mingling and making merry. Amen! Through obedience which called for me to rise 5:30 everymorning (prior to making a $1,600 investment in a water sprinkling system) to water the grass, I have backyard filled with mounds of green, swaying grass, and a beautiful floral arrangement out front. The peace that I get by watering those flowers and tackling that grass, is priceless (tissue Tito). Something I never would have experience if I did not allow the Lord to stretch me out of my comfort zone and into accepting my responsibility as a homeowner.
With one victory Bar B Q down, I decided to take on the challenge of having a smaller, intimate communal gathering for the 4th. Our menu simplistic – chicken, hamburgers, wine, desert and spaghetti-lasagna. The invited guest - all from the theater community (Andrea Lenox – 2005 Tony Award Winning Actress Doubt; Carolyn S. Clay who plays Nurse Hazel on ABC’s All My Children; Latino actor Elvis O. Nolasco; aspiring actresses Kimberly Fowlkes & Edwina Findley; hair stylist, Javier A Chapman; model and budding actor Frank C. Williams; marketing executive and my brother in Christ, Kelvin Dickerson and my best friend and brother in Christ, filmmaker Tony Vinto.

We sat around all evening playing cards and solving the problems of the world. We laughed and celebrated ourselves, applauded and admonished our people and planned our futures all under a moonlit evening in Bed Stuy. After the last guest left, and as I put away the food, cleaned the backyard and closed the gated door behind me, I thanked God for allowing me to be amongst good friends, fellow acquaintance and for allowing Him to be in our midst. I look forward to more events and opening this place God has allowed me to have steward ship over to more affairs and look forward to getting to know my neighbors and my brothers and sisters a little better and seeing how together, we can help each other accomplish our goals.