Get Yo Hand Out My Pocket !

While most little girls were watching their moms cook, I was doing my homework and playing with cabbage patch kids. As a result, whenever I have to cook anything deeper than frying chicken or browning meat for tacos, I have to call home for a list of ingredients with specific cooking instructions. Needless to say, (regardless of the recipe or the ingredients) WHATEVER I cook, never turns out the way my mom's does....but that's a different story for a different time....

Today, I am inclined to discuss a topic that tends to get a lot of mention in social circles when talking about relationships--both friendships and those involving significant others.

T R U S T

Now, I'm not trying to be the fabulous host of a very classy pity party, but I have had a number of past relationships that make this very ingredient hard to come by. It's like that series on CNN "Black In America" when they exposed the fact that many fruits and vegetables are not easily attainable in urban areas--especially those populated by African-Americans. Well, as far as I'm concerned----they could have added Trust right behind Asparagus and fresh tomatoes. Why? Because as I look in my social circles---ALL of the women I know are desperately trying to find it in hopes of adding a new flavor in their lives. Today, I am taking the opportunity to examine this much needed ingredient and brainstorm new ways of bringing it back to our communities and back to our lives.

First, I think it's important to know what happened to it. Did we ever have it? Did we lose it? Do we have it and just don't know what it looks like? Well Ladies, the answer is NO. A big FAT NO--to all of those above.

Yes Ladies...we were ROBBED.

It has been my observation that all of the muggings were done differently. Some of us had crafty thieves--taking a little bit of our trust everyday with a lie here and a lie there. Others of us, may have been clubbed over the head and had our trust snatched right out of our hands. A few of us had ample supply of trust---but after giving it and giving it ( to no avail)--looked up one day to discover there was no more left. And last but not least, I think a couple of us had it stolen so early in life (usually by family members or close family friends) we barely knew what it looked like--and wouldn't be able to recall the last time we possessed an ounce of it.

How does a woman move on when the man she currently loves or the men that she has loved in the past have all taken this ingredient--leaving her with nothing but lint in her pocket? What do you do when you don't have any extra tucked in the box spring of your mattress and you can't find it around the corner or at a local mart?

To Be Continued....