Walk It Out

So I totally forgot this existed until like a week ago. I went down to Oxford, MS to visit some friends and see the campus of Ole Miss and we were out walking around and of course there's people dancing, partyin' and all-in-all having a good time. As we were walking through the streets I could hear one of the clubs playing this song "Walk It Out" and right there popped up my little internal flag, dance time! I didn't dance at that exact moment but it did remind me of the video that was taken of me while I was in Iraq.

So the story behind the video and why it happened, call this "Moorman: Behind the Moves" if you will.

There was a day, well, there were many days, but on this day my platoon was on a reallllllly long patrol and we had been out all day and most of the night. We had finally gotten back to out Patrol Base and when we got all the trucks parked and gear put away, we had all immediately went back to our rooms. I don't remember why but I had picked up my Zune and unpaused where I had left my movie I was watching "Hitch". Well it was at the scene where Will Smith is getting ready to teach Kevin James how to dance and the song in the movie was "Apple Bottom Jeans" I think, I dunno, it was a dance song, and I got up out of excitement and asked the guys to throw on some music and they picked "Walk It Out"And this dance video is what was produced after a long day and silly fatigue kicks in. Enjoy ;o)

P.S. In order to see the video you'll have to copy and paste this link below into the URL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjEZQucZnBA 

Taking the time to listen to a friend

About an hour and a half before it was time for my Criminal Justice class, I went and sat with my friend Tanis while she smoked a cigaret outside the Classroom building at Jackson State. Tanis and I talk everyday and always, no matter what the situation or the mood, we share a laugh.

But today was a little more interesting. I got to hear a story from my friend that touched my heart. A few years ago Tanis lived in Mississippi. Her daughter, friends, family, house, mother, job, all in all her life was there. On one hot, humid, clear, sunny day everything changed...

I can't explain everything in full detail but to sum everything up, Tanis' house was destroyed by an F-3 Tornado. Tanis was in the house covered up in her bathtub as the Tornado ripped her house to nothing in 12 seconds. Watching and listening to her tell this story and hear the emotions and the words she uses to describe her experience was nothing short than impressive. Not impressive as in "that's so cool" but impressive to the power of a Tornado and impressive to see how she has came from this experience. Tanis lost everything in the matter of seconds. Her daughter stayed the night at her Grandmothers house that night because weather reporters had said weather was rolling in and stayed to keep her Grandma calm. She's the sweetest girl.

I had never heard this side of Tanis' life. I am so thankful that she decided to share this story with me earlier today. It really got me thinking that it's great to see how people can come back from things and grow from a disaster like that. Like I said, Tanis lost nearly everything that day and now, you can't catch her without a smile as she cruises the Jackson State campus. Simply amazing. And it warms my heart because that is the kind of person I want to be.

I hope Tanis doesn't kill me now for sharing this story but honestly, it's too good not to. I hope her story has and will inspire you also to just sit with someone you know or don't know and ask them about a story in their life. Doesn't matter good or bad, it's just good to talk and it's always good to listen.

Thanks for reading!

Mikey J