If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you know I am ’bout getting and staying fit and healthy. You also know that I love Girl Trek! This movement is all about getting women and girls to be healthy on step at a time. Like, literally. They encourage you to take 30 minutes a day for you (remember we have to be F.L.Y.) to walk. Self-care is so important and should be a priority for us all. That’s why I jumped at the chance to be a part of this movement.
My New Orleans Girl Trek team is absolutely awesome! Yes, I’m biased, but it’s the truth. On Monday, I spent the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday with them and my children, marching through the streets of New Orleans during our city’s parade in honor of Dr. King. We sang, walked, chanted and danced our way into the hearts of women and girls along the parade route. We stopped and talked to people along the way and took photos to commemorate the day.
If ever here was a place that needed healing, New Orleans was definitely it. Many along the parade route may have been there to see their “babies” perform, but they got so much more. Hope. Understanding. Love. You see, when you look at us – women of all shapes, sizes and ages walking and working together with so much joy exuding from us, you’re bound to want to know more. I realized that we are reflections of Dr. King and his dream. We are still fighting to protect what is ours. We are persevering despite what it looks like on the outside. That’s why we trek.
Our Girl Trek team had the pleasure of sharing the day with the co-founder of Girl Trek, T. Morgan Dixon. When my daughter met her she thought I was famous. She thinks I know everyone. Ha! I’m just mom (or so I thought). But in her eyes and those of my sons I am so much more. I truly realized how much of an impact my way of living has on my children and those who surround me. They’re watching me. Watching what I say and do. Do I keep my word? Do I help others? How do I treat people? They see me give and want to be givers. They see me serve and volunteer and want to do the same. They are reflections of me. If I want them to be better and do better they have to see me in action first. I’m raising leaders and thinkers and world-changers. I pray that they continue to be servant leaders and be proud of the impact they are having on those around them no matter how small their actions may seem. They, too, are reflections of Dr. King.
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
