Hanging with these kids for the past week was quite the experience. While they are technically adults, they are still two very young women who had never New Yorked on their own and I felt a lot of responsibility.
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Since I don’t have any kids, it was tough for me to decide how much freedom to give them. I mean there is a lot of trouble two barely adults could get into in this town. I was so nervous the one afternoon I dropped them off downtown, and I was on the brink of pacing the hallways when they still hadn’t headed back to Harlem at 10 pm. Makes me feel bad for all those times I refused to come home at curfew as a teen. Sorry Mom.
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Being a chaperone is new for LKE. It is astonishing to see someone who you have known since they were a small child grow up, come to New York, give you a new haircut, introduce you to new makeup brands, get you to go see broadway shows that you never would have seen, go to interactive museums, take a million selfies, say a zillion one liners that you have no idea what they mean, and just be so open to experience the world.
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On my end, I am grateful that I got to show them some of the finer things in life. The hole in the wall restaurant that doesn’t cost a fortune, but serves up epic, memorable food. I am glad I got to show them how to go with the flow when you go to the worst restaurant of all time. I’m glad we talked honestly about relationships, friendships, money, business, sex, purpose, and politics.
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While I may not have children, it is an honor to be an aunt to my friend’s children and to my biological nephew. I love seeing every stage of life from infant to awkward to trouble to OMG, I raised a good human being. It means something that I can help send my good friend to Africa to help raise one abused girl into a business woman. It is an honor when people say that my mom energy gets applied to the masses. It is 100% true that it takes a village to raise a child. I think we continue to raise each other as adults.
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May we all love other people, and to do our parts to raise people with good hearts, open minds, listening ears, driven minds, healthy bodies, and full wallets.
