LeoLin Bowen

My son had just lost another tooth. When he looked up at me with his big, brown eyes and asked, “Mommy is the tooth fairy real?”

I knew there was still a culture of fear surrounding black people, but this was the first time I had experienced a person scared of black people.

What is different now is that I know who I am and what I want. I’m not afraid to be alone and living single. I value my time and my health.

Wonderful son of mine, I am going to let you in on a little secret. Your mother is a liar. In fact, people lie all of the time.

Be careful what you wish for because at eight years old my son is exactly like his father in this aspect. I'm now raising an outgoing kid and I'm reserved.

“This is what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real.” My home is a cooperative house on the South Side of Chicago.

Inevitably, it happens. A well-meaning (or maybe not so well-meaning) white person will utter the phrase, “Well, I just don’t see color.”

I am not the only one who is running on this hamster wheel of debt. In 2017 Americans had a revolving debt of $1,022 billion. So, dear debt, it's over!

You are about to embark on a journey that you will be talking about and remembering for the rest of your life, so spend these next year’s enjoying it.