{"id":14631,"date":"2019-01-14T00:01:03","date_gmt":"2019-01-14T05:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/verastic.com\/?p=14631"},"modified":"2019-01-12T20:16:52","modified_gmt":"2019-01-13T01:16:52","slug":"happy-birthday-to-a-remarkable-woman-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/personal\/happy-birthday-to-a-remarkable-woman-me.html","title":{"rendered":"Happy Birthday To A Remarkable Woman (Me!!!)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I started writing this post on Friday. I actually wrote the entire thing, but when I got to the end, it just did not feel authentic. It felt like I was writing to fit a particular theme box that I had previously created and thought of as being perfect. But forget that. Right now, I&#8217;m freestyling in my writing, unsure of where this will end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Vera-Ezimora-Happy-Birthday-Verastic-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14629\" srcset=\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Vera-Ezimora-Happy-Birthday-Verastic-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Vera-Ezimora-Happy-Birthday-Verastic-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Vera-Ezimora-Happy-Birthday-Verastic-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Vera-Ezimora-Happy-Birthday-Verastic.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s my birthday today, and wow, I&#8217;m so proud of myself! I went back and read <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/verastic.com\/personal\/happy-birthday-letter-love.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"the love letter I wrote to myself last year (opens in a new tab)\">the love letter I wrote to myself last year<\/a><\/strong>, and as I read the words, all I wanted to do was give last year&#8217;s Vera a hug and a kiss because she deserved it. Last year&#8217;s Vera was hurting on her birthday. I was so thankful for the gift of life, but I was hurting, y&#8217;ll!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year, however, I am in a completely different place. I am not yet where I want to be, but God, I am not where I used to be. It&#8217;s amazing what a difference a year makes. God has been working on me gradually, and it was so gradual that I did not even always notice it as it was happening. But then, every now and then, I glance at myself and I love what I see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recently, I was on a conference call with my girls, Funmie and Uju, and I don&#8217;t remember what I said about myself, but Funmie&#8217;s response was, &#8220;<em><strong>Na <\/strong><\/em><g class=\"gr_ gr_4 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace\" id=\"4\" data-gr-id=\"4\"><em><strong>wa<\/strong><\/em><\/g><em><strong> for this your new arrogance and cockiness oh!&#8221;<\/strong><\/em> Uju and I burst out laughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Contrary to what Funmie thinks, I am not now cocky and arrogant &#8211; except when absolutely needed &#8211; but my self-confidence has definitely shot up. I have morphed into the kind of woman I admire and dream of becoming. I do not have the words to quantify what I have become, but I just know that I love it, and I am grateful for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I mentioned in <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/verastic.com\/personal\/happy-birthday-letter-love.html\">my New Year post<\/a><\/strong> that 2018 was a year of renewal and rejuvenation and rebirth and rediscovery, and I was not lying at all. I rediscovered myself, and I discovered a part of me that I did not even know existed. Turns out that I am pretty fucking amazing. And phenomenal. And remarkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the struggles I had in my previous age (aka in 2018) was trying to keep it all together when everything was falling apart. But the moment I learned to let go, it was so much easier. I was okay with not writing as much, and I was okay with missing events, and I was okay with not responding to some emails and texts. I told myself that I cannot come and die <g class=\"gr_ gr_7 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace\" id=\"7\" data-gr-id=\"7\">jare<\/g>. So instead, I lived. And no matter what was going on beside me, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/verastic.com\/personal\/the-girl-is-thankful-for-peace.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"I had the kind of peace my bible talks about (opens in a new tab)\">I had the kind of peace my bible talks about<\/a><\/strong>, the kind that surpasses all understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Vera-Ezimora-Verastic-2-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14634\" width=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Vera-Ezimora-Verastic-2-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Vera-Ezimora-Verastic-2-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Vera-Ezimora-Verastic-2-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Vera-Ezimora-Verastic-2.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I grew up a lot in my last age, but I am not done growing. I am so excited about where God is taking me in this new age, and I am thankful to you for still being here and growing with me.  <g class=\"gr_ gr_5 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del\" id=\"5\" data-gr-id=\"5\">WE<\/g> have come a long way!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, yes, happy birthday to a remarkable woman &#8212; and her internet-based besties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>P.S. <\/strong>Pictures were taken by <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/eli3photos\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Eli3 Photography (opens in a new tab)\">Eli3 Photography<\/a><\/strong>, and makeup was done by <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Edan Makeup (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/edanmakeup\/\" target=\"_blank\">Edan Makeup<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>P.P.S.<\/strong> I&#8217;m really feeling myself though. Can you tell?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I started writing this post on Friday. I actually wrote the entire thing, but when I got to the end, it just did not feel authentic. It felt like I was writing to fit a particular theme box that I had previously created and thought of as being perfect. But forget that. Right now, I&#8217;m<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/personal\/happy-birthday-to-a-remarkable-woman-me.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_14738191_14738191":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[561],"tags":[144,54,304,572,147],"class_list":["post-14631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal","tag-birthday","tag-god","tag-growth","tag-happy-birthday","tag-new-year","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - 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