{"id":16571,"date":"2022-01-03T01:45:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T06:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/verastic.com\/?p=16571"},"modified":"2022-01-03T03:16:58","modified_gmt":"2022-01-03T08:16:58","slug":"enter-vera-but-this-time-in-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/personal\/enter-vera-but-this-time-in-2022.html","title":{"rendered":"Enter Vera. But This Time In 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My first post on this blog was titled Enter Vera<\/strong><\/a>. It was only one paragraph, and the writing was not great – and that’s putting it kindly. I wrote 2<\/em> intead of to<\/em>. And lemme<\/em> instead of<\/em> let me. And U<\/em> instead of you<\/em>. Ugh. You could smell the immaturity in my writing. That was on January 26th, 2006. Sixteen whole years ago! Where did all the time go? It’s not lost on me that my last two sentences rhyme, and considering COVID and my desperation to have a great year, I am formally considering this as a good sign. The rhyming, that is.<\/p>\n

I cannot believe that the last time I wrote on this space was in December 2020. It was not my intention to be away for a year; In fact, it was not my intention to be away at all. One week turned into one month, and then, the other months just followed. It’s easy to continue doing a thing once you have started doing a thing. I have never stayed away for a year. Even when I was getting divorced, I did not stay away for a year. Yet, here we are.<\/p>\n

The entire time I was away, I thought about coming back. I wrote stories, stories I thought you’d enjoy reading, but I wrote all the stories in my head. Every now and then, I’d log in, take a look around, and then, leave. It had been so long since I logged in before today that when I did log in, my blog was suspicious of me. It booted me out and demanded thrice that I prove I am human.  You’re reading these words from me, so obviously, I was able to prove my humanity.<\/p>\n

\"Vera<\/p>\n

It was around October 2020 that I made the decision to return home. This is home. Verastic is home. It doesn’t matter what I write or where I write it, it never feels as comfortable or as intimate or as familiar or quite as right as right here. I have not met most of you, but I feel like I am most of you. Although I knew since October that I would be returning home in January, I waited till the eleventh hour to actually write this piece. Instead, I turned on my laptop and perused the internet for a black watch because I have decided that that is what I will be giving myself for my birthday (in eleven days). When I finally found the watch (a unisex one because I find the women’s watches to be too feminine), I could have and should have started writing this piece, but instead, I decided that it was a good time to do some Google research on the best facial moistuzier with SPF for black skin. All my research landed me right back on what I am already using. It’s classic Vera, really, to avoid tacking the big task,and spend time, instead, sweeping the roof. By the way, for all the time I spent researching the watch, I still have not ordered it.<\/p>\n

I have missed you something fierce and reckless, Sweet Potatoes. I have missed sharing with you and learning from you. I have missed gossiping with you. I hate that I was away for a year, but I know that I needed to be away. Thank you for being my Sweet Potatoes. Happy New Year, and please get comfortable, I’ll be back with more. I promise.<\/p>\n

P.S.<\/strong> The picture above is recent. It was taken in church during the Christmas Eve service a little over a week ago. The glow is from the lit candle that we were all holding. It was a visual reminder that we are called to be the light of the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My first post on this blog was titled Enter Vera. It was only one paragraph, and the writing was not great – and that’s putting it kindly. I wrote 2 intead of to. And lemme instead of let me. And U instead of you. Ugh. You could smell the immaturity in my writing. That wasRead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16575,"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":[1559,1471,1402],"class_list":["post-16571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal","tag-self","tag-self-care","tag-self-love","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEnter Vera. 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