I am a Daddy’s girl. There is no denying it. For years I fought against the notion that I was so much like him, but the older I get the more I see how much of an influence he had on the process of me becoming me; and you know what, that’s a good thing. Don’t get me wrong Growing up with Leon A. Brown wasn’t all ice cream and ponies. He was strict, a disciplinarian. But he was also very loving and playful. He was a constant presence in my life not just some shadow that cast his essence your way when all conditions were right. He was a Father.
You know the kind that you read about in classic novels and Greek tragedies. Beautifully human. He made sure that I had the most comfortable life that he could provide and I must admit I was much more privileged than I realized at the time. But the biggest gift I think he ever gave me as a developing child on into my young adult year was the belief that I could do anything I wanted in life. This man who was a product of a time so much different than the one that I was born into understood that in my time the only limits to my success would be of my own making. He taught me to never let someone tell me I couldn’t do or be something because I was black or female. He always said “you can do anything you set your mind to.” What a gift; the gift of limitless possibility.
And if there was anyone who knew this was true it was him. He left the Bahamas as a teenager and ventured to a foreign land where he knew almost no one. He carved out a life for himself and realized his own “American Dream” complete with wife kids and a big house in the suburbs. It wasn’t easy but he never believed it wasn’t possible.
This thought has fueled me through most of my life. It has been the catalyst to many adventures and the anchoring thought when making difficult decisions. When you look at the expanse of my life one might say “Well you don’t seem all successful or rich or powerful” and this may be true. But I can say that where I am today is truly of my own making. I didn’t what I chose and I never let anyone dictate my destiny to me. Because of this I have learned so much just from the living of life that I would never have experienced had I been too afraid t or let someone tell me I couldn’t do something. And this wisdom still drives me.
I am going back to school at 37. I am self-producing a musical CD. I am writing a memoir, and I am being me to the absolute fullest. And there is no one who could ever make me believe that any of this isn’t possible. Why because my daddy told me years ago that it was.
Having him in my life daily as I was growing up was invaluable. His presence made all the difference in the world. I can’t imagine having become the person I am today without him there. He was the compliment to all the practical application knowledge that my mom gave. Between the both of them I became the dreamer equipped with the skills to make them come true. For this I am very grateful.
