‘Won’t you celebrate with me.’ These opening line to Lucille Clifton’s poem is my mood for the year.

Today is my first team meeting too. I like to take my time to usher in the New Year. Somethings take time.

So I begin this year with my team, asking them to celebrate all our wins.

See the life we have shaped for ourselves too. We had no model too.

Dwelling in Midwest. Both non-white and woman, a black one too.

They have tried to use words that couldn’t stick like ‘overworked.’

What do you expect when I exist beyond work?

You may call it work, but I call it life, this lively lush thing I have shaped for myself with no model in the Midwest.

So come celebrate with me. We defied the odds. We are soaring too.

I wrote more than I ever imagined with grants last year. Only time will tell how the story unfolds. But until then, celebrate with me as we move along this new year win or lose.

All the things that tried, failed. We are still here and 2023 is the start of something special.

This is the year we learn to finally fly. Keep flying.