Frankie Works, I Don't

Tonight I'm thinking about people who do real work. Even though I'm up at 2:00AM writing on my dissertation, I've been told that this is not real work--well more accurately, this is not a real job. After much internal debate, I've decided to defer to my good friend Frankie who has a real job. Several of them as a matter of fact. Actually, at one point recently, Frankie had four jobs--two full-time jobs and two part-time jobs. How is that possible? Even she hasn't figured that out yet--she's still recovering from the intermittent periods of falling asleep--fully dressed--kneeled by the couch--with all the lights in her place, on.

Back to the point. Frankie is a young, vibrant, single woman. She's not raising any Bebe's kids--she's not taking money from one credit card to pay another--she's not spending excessive amounts of cash on men, booze, or drugs. She's just regular people with regular bills. And the reality is that regular people have to go to work everyday (and sometimes more than once a day). Frankie is a young professional with a new(ish) car and aspirations of returning back to graduate school so she can go into Higher Ed administration. Good for you Frankie. In the meantime, she holds down several (not sure how many she has at the moment) important jobs--helping real people with real issues. And no, I'm not being sarcastic--you just knew I was about to say she works at McDonalds right. No, I really mean it, Frankie helps people. Abuse, mental illness, physical and emotional handicaps, Frankie has seen it all. That my friends is real work. That is a real job. Frankie is a beautiful person for going back to her job every day. Some people couldn't do it. I wish she could see the strength that she has inside her--I see it--it's real, she's real, her work is real. Let's have a reality show that follows Frankie around. Now that's some reality instead of some kids having $400,000+ Super Sweet Sixteen Parties--because that ish AIN'T real.

And on another note--Hollywood and Reality TV ain't got NOTHING on Frankie's parents. They recently celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary. 44 years of real marriage and real beautiful Black love at that. Now that too, is real work.

So after years of fighting, tonight after much consideration, I concede. Frankie, you are right. I do not have a real job and I do not do real work.

(So quit your gloatin, and get back to work--cuz I know you on somebody's clock right now. Love you soror!)