WisdomWednesday - Jamieson Diaries

Wisdom Wednesday: Stuart Scott

February 4, 2015 Leave a Comment

It has been exactly one month to the day Stuart Scott lost his battle with cancer (January 4th, 2015). Stuart Scott was born in Chicago, IL on July 19th, 1965 (Yay Illinois!). At the age of seven, he and his entire family moved to North Carolina, and years later, as many of us know, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

If you would like the detailed, by the book, statistics of Stuart Scott, you can Google or Wikipedia his name for all of this information. Stuart Scott is not my Wisdom Wednesday person of February for all of his credentials, but because of how much fun he was to watch on ESPN, and even more so, for how gracefully he fought cancer for many years. Many of us unfortunately have direct experience with the evil beast known as, cancer. Some of you may even know it more personally than others. Knowing how terrible this disease is, there is something so special and inspiring about someone who fights it and doesn’t let it define them mentally. I say mentally, because as much as we all wish we could do something to stop it, cancer and the treatments to fight cancer, noticeably alter our physical appearance. But Stuart Scott did his best to fight mentally as well as physically. While going through chemotherapy, all three times he encountered cancer (2007,2011,2013), he stayed in physical shape as much as he could by participating in martial arts and even the P90X series.

If you have ever watched ESPN, or television for that matter, you have seen or heard Stuart Scott. He influenced people before they had even gotten the chance to realize what was taking place. He changed the way many of us not just heard and talked about sports, but understood sports. I mean, he was only “as cool as the other side of the pillow,” and there had to be something pretty epic happening when you heard the sudden and loud “Boo-Yah!” coming from your screen. Out of all of the funny and great sports commentating, interviewing, and reviewing, the one speech of his that stands out to me was the speech he gave after receiving the Jimmy V Award last year at the 2014 ESPYS. During the introduction piece explaining his journey with cancer. Stuart said; “Fighting is winning, not quitting, not saying ‘oh I have cancer, I can’t do anything, I’m just gonna lay down and cry a pity party for myself.’ That to me is the only way you lose.” This was the first quote of the segment that made me realize how much respect I had for this man going through this terrible battle. Then there was the amazing quote that came during his speech most of us will never forget in our lifetime. “You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live.” This is the moment that will always pop up in my head when I think about Stuart Scott. The moment he showed all of us how he wasn’t allowing cancer to win. The moment he reminded all of us how amazing he was at using words to describe life so we could understand every single thing he said on the stage. If you have not had the pleasure of hearing this amazing speech, please take a listen by clicking here.

Stuart Scott was 49 years young when he passed away. I hope and pray when I am 49 years old someone will be able to say I inspired them in a way that Stuart Scott inspired so many people. The amount of people who felt sadness and pain when he left this Earth is a testament to how beautiful and genuine he was as a person.

I pray he is resting easy, and is able to look down and see how much good he did in this world.

R.I.P. Stuart Scott

Brie <3

[02.04.15]

Wisdom Wednesday: Kelley Byrdsong

November 6, 2014 Comments : 8

I’m not quite sure how old Kelley and I were when we first met, but I know we were in elementary school. I don’t remember when we officially became BFFs either. All I know for sure is Kelley Byrdsong is one of the greatest people I have had the pleasure of knowing in my lifetime. I think it’s easy to talk about how much our families influence us, but it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to have a best friend as caring, compassionate, intelligent, and strong as, Kelley B. Or “Songbyrd” as many members of my family call her lol. I could seriously type a college length essay about who she is, what she has accomplished, and why she means so much to me and my family, but I will try my best to keep it short.

Many people know Kelley as Coach Ricky Byrdsong’s daughter. Ricky Byrdsong was shot and killed by a white supremacist, while on a hate crime shooting spree, and killed another man as well, during 4^th of July weekend in 1999. Kelley and her younger brother Ricky Jr. were with their Dad when this took place. Talk about terrifying to think about. I debated on whether I would put this information on this post, but it’s honestly important as to who she is and why I admire her. It was during the time after Kelley’s Dad’s death I really realized the awesomeness that is Kelley Byrdsong. Granted, we were only 10 years old, but you know enough at the age of 10 to recognize unbelievable strength in a person. Anyone who can go through an experience like hers and be the positively happy person she is today deserves some form of recognition.

After I moved away from Evanston, IL at the end of 7^th grade, Kelley and I seemed to only get closer. Through high school and college we didn’t see or talk to each other as often, because as you can imagine, we were both pretty busy living and trying to figure out life. Especially since I stayed in Illinois (Loyola University Chicago) and she went to North Carolina (North Carolina A&T) for college. But she was the epitome of the friend you didn’t talk to regularly, but when you did, it was like we had just seen each other the day before. I will never forget on my birthday junior year of college, I had checked the mail and had a birthday card from her. I don’t think we had gotten a chance to speak for months at that point. But I will never forget how happy I was to get her card, and ever since that moment I made sure to make a better effort to stay in contact. Even if it was a short 5 minute text conversation, I wanted to make sure we tried our best to keep in touch. Since then we have made sure to stay in touch, and she is usually the first non-family member I go to with any news. If you need one more reason to understand how special she is to my family, when I had Jordyn, Kelley had to take four planes (yes- you read that correctly- FOUR PLANES) to get from Atlanta to Montana. As if that wasn’t enough, every day she had either cleaned a room in my house or made dinner. I mean…how many of us can say we have a FRIEND like her? Not a family member, but a friend. (Side note- I’ll tell you in another post how amazing my family members are for doing the same plus more the first few months Jordyn was born.)

Today, Kelley is currently working with the “Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence”, which had a huge victory in the state of Washington in last night’s election thanks to Initiative 594 passing. If you’re curious, the short version of Initiative 594 will now require all gun sales, including the internet and gun shows, to go through Brady background checks. Score! In addition to working on this campaign she is a youth Director for an Atlanta based organization called CYD (Create Your Dreams), which works to help underserved students in Atlanta follow their dreams and support their individual talents. And as if that isn’t enough, watching her grow spiritually has been even more inspiring. I remember she text me a few months back saying the homeless man she would always see, and give food to, on one of her daily routes wasn’t in his usual place, and she was worried something had happened to him. Months later, the man was back in his usual spot and she was beyond happy to see him again. She was so happy; she put up a status to tell all of us how happy she was to see him. How many of us can say we know someone with a heart as large as hers? Considering my personal feelings and future plans to help the homeless (more will be explained in my December blog post) this is only one more of the many reasons Kelley is someone who inspires me.

I think it’s pretty safe to say after reading about her and her credentials, you can conclude I didn’t choose Kelley as my November: Wisdom Wednesday person simply because she is my best friend. But because she actually deserves to be someone other people, especially young ladies, aspire to be like. If you didn’t know anything about Kelley Byrdsong before, I hope you get a chance to one day learn more details of her accomplishments, hopefully support her life efforts through prayer and positive gestures, and maybe even have the pleasure of meeting her. I’m just thankful God saw fit to bless my family and me with such a personal inspiration in our lives.

Happy Wednesday folks!

*top left- we were in 7th grade*

*top right- we were sophomores in high school*

*bottom left- my wedding day February 2013 in Evanston, IL*

*bottom right- this summer [2014] in Great Falls, Montana*

Brie <3

[11.05.14]

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Wisdom Wednesday: Phylicia Rashad

October 8, 2014 Leave a Comment

Every 1^st Wednesday of the month I will pick a person to write about that has inspired me in some way, shape, or form. These posts will be a mix of famous people, and people I know personally, who make me want to be a better person. It’s almost like the “#WCW” (woman crush Wednesday) only not all of them are women lol. This will be one of my favorite parts of the blog, because hopefully it sheds a little light on some amazing people you may not have known existed, as well as how and why they have impacted me to be who I am. This month I have chosen- Phylicia Rashad.

Most people know Phylicia Rashad from her role as Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show. What always amazes me about Ms. Rashad is how much she truly is Clair Huxtable in real life. I don’t necessarily mean her life story is the same as the story she portrayed on television, but the same elegance, intelligence, beauty, and class she demonstrated on the show, is the same person in real life. There is almost a gift about simply listening to her speak. From her being the first African-American actress to win a TONY Award, to her heavy impact as THEE Mother in the Black community, it is hard not to be inspired by who she is to all of us. On top of her already amazing resume, she is fluent in Spanish (on my bucket list) due to living in Mexico for a few years, and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Howard University in the 70’s. She also has received 5+ honorary degrees from colleges all over the country, including Harvard University, for her continuous charity work. Many of them focusing on building up and helping women. With all of the negative images we see surrounding us daily about celebrities, I try to always remember those who are bringing joy to this world. And setting great examples for future generations. If you did not know much about Ms. Rashad before, I hope this encourages you to learn more about her, and why she is such an inspirational woman to me. Thank you Ms. Rashad for teaching me at a young age, three of the greatest qualities a woman can possess are class, intelligence, and elegance.

Below is one of my favorite Clair Huxtable scenes from The Cosby Show. Jordyn better not even try and pull it! Lol.

[10.08.14]