Doors Close and Open for Super Mommy/Authors

Meltingpot Readers,

You know that phrase that goes something like, "When one door closes, another one opens?" Well, that happened to me. I had been invited to participate in this fabulous book festival on the island of St. Martin. They wanted me to talk about my book, Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America.

I was so honored by the invitation and thrilled to have the opportunity to experience a new country. But at the last minute I decided I couldn't go. Because of family obligations and my own peace of mind, I had to tell the festival organizers that I just could not attend. (Luckily, my awesome co-author, Ayana Byrd is stepping in for me.) At first I agonized over my decision and beat myself up for not being able to be a jet-setting author and handle my family obligations too. But then I realized that making the decision to not go, freed me from a lot of anxiety. Big relief. And I told myself there would be other opportunities to talk about Hair Story. Little did I know how soon that opportunity would show up.

Would you believe the very next day I received an email from a producer at The Today Show asking if I could share some information about Black hair politics. One phone conversation later and I'd been booked on their show as part of a week-long segment they're doing on hair. I'm slated to appear live on Friday, June 4. Did I mention that the St. Martin Book Festival runs June 3-5?

Of course anything far newsier than hair issues could bump me right off the agenda, but I'm still thrilled that they called. I am also thrilled how the universe proved to me that making the right decision always yields positive results. I followed my instincts and everything turned out super duper because at the end of the day, more people probably watch the Today Show than attend book festivals in St. Martin. Of course New York City isn't a tropical paradise, but I can go and come back and still pick my kids up from school, take the older one to karate lessons and tuck the little one into bed. And for me, that's what life is all about. Super Mommy & Super Author both get an A+.