LaToya M. Davidson-Perez

Here’s a fact, and a well known secret at that, Christmas comes on December 25th every year. Although I’m like most people who wait until November or December to purchase gifts, what I don’t do is shop during the insane periods when last minute shoppers do. And if I can help it, I do the majority of my shopping online. However, I honestly wish I was better at shopping throughout the year. What I’ll never do is shop on Thanksgiving Day.

I must admit, when hearing about the slew of retail stores opening on Thanksgiving Day I was disgusted. Sure, I’m a red-blooded American and I love my conveniences, but going to the store to shop on Thanksgiving is not one of them. I remember as a child growing up in Jamaica when most places were closed on Sundays. We’d occasionally drive downtown and it was like a ghost town. I’d grown accustomed to there being time when people simply got to be home with their families or when they had down time to not be at work. When I returned to the US I slowly acclimated to having stores open on Sundays and for the most part didn’t have a problem with that. But what I don’t agree with is us as a society having a need or expectation that everything is 24/7. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a famous line, “remember, remember, the 5th of November.” I don’t mention it in order to wander off on a history lesson. I do mention it for the sake of how ominous that line is. I am sure not to forget the 5th of this November. On that very day, while dealing with my own stresses at work, my husband lost his job. So indeed, the fifth of November will likely have some significance for us for some time to come.

You never know when life’s unpredictability will affect you. Life had already been stressed. Despite my medication my seasonal depression was already creeping in. I had been stressed out by matters at work that were of course out of my control. And then, upon reaching home, I could sense that something was different with my husband. He was somber, a quality I don’t usually use to describe him. Not too long after settling in, he broke the news to me. I went silent. I thought that my heart had stopped but I’m sure that was just me making the moment more poignant. I sat for a moment, not believing that what I heard was true. We had been so blessed for the past year and now it seemed to be crashing down.

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October 19th was Evaluate Your Life Day. It’s a yearly thing! Honestly, there seems to be a day for everything! Sure, I could talk about the government shutdown, national healthcare, or any number of disappointingly frustrating things. Rather, I’ll reflect on more positive things such as evaluating one’s life. It’s never too early or too late to do so. We should always take the time to reflect upon the person we are, would like to be, and the person we once were.

This seems to be a topic I circle with many of my articles. And depending on how you look at it, evaluating your life allows you to take stock of everything or just the things you’d like to really reflect on. I believe I’ve been doing a lot of that lately. It has included jotting down and prioritizing a list of things that are important to me, defining who I am, looking at my approach to life as well as a few others that I’d like to go into. Read the rest of this entry »

While reading a book by my current favorite author, Grace Burrowes, I was forced to give pause by a few words made by the book’s titular character. “Life doesn’t owe us happiness.” In the day-to-day living of life one can’t help but to think, what does life owe us? Or are we the ones who owe life something?

There are days when I feel as though life just isn’t fair. I think that the vast majority of people can attest to that. Life sometimes feels like it has more downs than ups. I know that I can say this not solely as someone who has battled depression the majority of my adult life. For all of us life can be, well, life. Sure, we’re often told to think about how great we may have it in comparison to those who have a great deal less. However, I think doing so is only for the sake of trying to keep some perspective. Read the rest of this entry »

I have found that I have become a person who watches television shows after they’ve already ended. This was definitely the case with The West Wing and even Firefly. I voraciously watched all seven years of The West Wing in a month earlier this year which was many years after its last episode aired. In so doing I was able to watch it when I was really ready and when I could appreciate it more. That’s the great thing about services like Netflix, a television series is never really over. When the screen fades to black, it doesn’t mean that it’s truly over. It may signal the beginning for a new generation of fans. Read the rest of this entry »