Love Takes Us to New Places
Great times and reveals in Alabama.
Welcome to Love + Travel, a chronicling of thoughts and adventures.
The past few weeks were so full of love and goodness I want to take a moment to give it its due.
THANK YOU to all who’ve messaged and congratulated me on my one-year writing anniversary. Writing is equal parts labor and love, so your likes, shares, comments, and amplification mean so much. I share because I want to connect with individuals who, like me, are seeking expansion and your help in doing so is a win-win all around.
Warm hugs go out to Rahma D. and C. Elyse for gifting me “The Road Less Traveled” by M. Scott Peck, M.D. and “Let Us Descend” by Jesmyn Ward, respectfully.
And huge shoutouts to Yana R. and Natasha L. Bedford for upgrading to paid subscriptions. My gratitude radiates to the atomic level.
It’s truly a joy to give and an absolute pleasure to receive.
If you’re new around here, be sure to check out my latest piece, a brief on the novel The Princess of Thornwood Drive, and the entirety of my writing here.
This weekend, I flew to Alabama for my Godson’s birthday. It was very hard to leave in the end.
This was my second visit, the first being for his baby shower the previous year. Before that initial trip, my thoughts about Alabama were limited to college football, Martin Luther King Jr., and the observation that the state’s outline resembles a capital letter D. However, it’s grown into a place where my heart resides alongside a family of three.
Visiting felt both like home and a departure from it. There was the familiar, like laughs over breakfast and taking naps on the couch, but also the unexpected, like getting peed on twice and counting the number of churches passed while on an 8-minute drive to Publix – 6 in total.
Possibly the most unexpected was tearing up in a breakfast nook while detailing my hopes and fears.
This weekend made me realize that parts of me haven’t been explored and only reveal themselves as I place myself in unfamiliar settings. There’s the me I know well who guzzles sweet tea straight from a gallon and can wrap a present better than the most senior attendant at a department store - ask about me. However, I became acquainted with a new side of myself while witnessing my friend’s loving family dynamic. The touching display made me reflect on my own childhood and my dreams of motherhood in the future.
Friendship is a vessel of the best kind. Its love takes you to new places in both latitude and depth. The land of lane cake was the last place I expected to learn something new about myself, but the reality is we’re our most vulnerable at home, and home is anywhere you are supported and celebrated, state lines be damned.
As I walked out, saying goodbye with baby toddler Myles in my arms, I sighed and said, “Fine, I guess you can have your son back.” He chewed on his fingers and I gave a final rub to his jellybean toes. Pictures were taken, and we sweat under the Alabama sun, muttering things about next visits and returning soon. We said the quiet part out loud - no one wanted to shift from where we stood at that moment.
The car was hardly out of the caul de sac before I started scrolling through photos and videos from our time together while smiling from ear to ear. In reflection, I know I am not the only one who learned something new about themselves during this trip. The thing about great relationships is that when venturing to common ground with another, you are led back home. Love is many things, but perhaps its most profound expression is found in the journeys we take together.
Peace to you today and always. May this week lead you somewhere new.
Best,
RL
TODAY’S TIDBIT
What Pikine Restaurant lacks in square footage, it makes up in portion size, and let me tell you, this place can burn 🤤.
Pikine offers Senegalese fare with big flavors at affordable prices. It’s run by three women, located in Harlem and resides on the same block as the A,C 116th Street station. My meal of choice is the Dibi lamb with kouskous, jollof rice, and plantains with a ginger drink but you truly can’t go wrong with anything on the menu.
COMMUNITY CORNER
🏳️🌈 Happy Pride, y’all! Bethany Nicole made my little bi heart feel so seen in her incredibly vulnerable piece “the intimacy of scrutiny.”
🖼️ Do you know of any opportunities in the arts? Shadé not Sade is hilariously chronicling her frustrating process of searching for a job in "Week 10 and 11 of documenting my unemployment to employment journey". If you know of any archiving or preservation positions within a gallery or museum send them her way.
😮💨 We’re all tired, and brands know it too. Amy Odell puts into context WGSN’s report on consumer behavior in “The Great Exhaustion of 2026.”
LET ME KNOW
Have you ever visited Alabama? Are you from there originally?
Why are baby toes so stinking cute?
What’s the last thing love taught you about yourself?
Thank you for reminding me home can be a person. This weekend, you brought the memories of home with you and I needed that. Love you.
Baby legs are the cutest! ♥️ What a beautiful friendship you have.