Chapter 3 - Tallulah Gorge (11.11.17) D'Anika's BEarthDay Ch8se

The birth of the ch8se theme begins here.

From the story published on BlackDoctor.org, (bit.ly/Danika444,) to the launch of this website, the inception of the social media outlets, and the movement itself, ch8singwaterfalls continues to grow.

On what would have been the twenty-fifth birthday of D'Anika LaShay, twenty-nine women joined me on a honorary trek, at the spectacular Tallulah Gorge.

Though we were dead ended at the suspension bridge, due to the route being closed to an unknown kayak race, and the releasing of the water (I think,) it did not stop some of the ladies from conquering their fear of heights, and walking the suspension bridge. These brave ladies, with the support of the GirlTrek sisterhood, took steps across the bridge, they never imagined crossing. Some real black girl healing was in affect, and it was phenomenal.

Due to the bridge road block, this too, will be a repeat ch8se in the near future.

After climbing the stairs to the top of the first falls, we paused, for the picture above. Prior to the picture, the ladies, afforded me the opportunity to share with them, pieces of our story. In the days leading up to the trek, I had diligently worked on a gift item, which was presented to the mother's who shared our story. It was for the mother's who had both birthed and lost a child. The gift was a pocket mirror. Each mirror was etched with baby feet, that had angel wings, and a halo. The mirror presented to the ladies, as a symbol of remembrance to celebrate the life they had birthed, as we were doing, in honor of D'Anika, that day on 11.11.17.

There were just the three of us this day; however, since then, a mirror has been presented to several other women who share our story. Soon, I will have ultimately presented each of the 25 mirrors made to ladies who also share our story. As a matter of fact, if you are that lady, or know a sister who does share our story, please connect us. I would love to present her with one.

At the end of this epic chapter 3 of ch8singwaterfalls, we culminated the experience at the Artist Kava Grill. Ya'll, this was by far the absolute worst place I have ever been to in my life. It was the poorest dining decision I have ever made, and unfortunately shared with the 20+ ladies who joined me. (Not everyone stayed for lunch.) Without further detail, as we were walking in and one of the patrons said, where only myself, and one other lady, who was with us heard, "ya'll in the wrong place, ain't ya," I knew then, we all should have left; however, I was still on a natural high, and was determined not to allow a "patron" of the establishment to run us off. In hindsight, I should have listened, he literally could have been warning us of what was to come, he might have been a missed sign, (dangit!) Though the owner was nice, and did her very best, she was not ready for such a large crowd, and the food was beneath poor. Totally unacceptable.

After this experience, one of our trekkers informed me that the place had an unacceptable health score. What a disappointing mess. Needless to say, another lesson earned. Health score will be the first thing I check from this point forward.

A beautiful time, nonetheless.

Stay tuned for more.......

Deborah McGlawn