The Last Chapter: Back to Court Pt. 1

In May, I spoke about my last trip to court with Timile’s parents and our custody/visitation hearing in Virginia. In the fourth paragraph, I mentioned that Cydney’s grandparents had dropped their filing for custody and there were negotiations that had to take place that I was not yet at liberty to talk about. Well, now […]

Stressed Out

I hate A Tribe Called Quest’s ‘Beats, Rhymes, and Life.’ I don’t hate it like most other people do. It’s not because this album was a departure from what made Tribe’s first three albums classic and ultimately the beginning of the end for them. I hate it because it reminds me of where I was […]

The [Second to] Last Chapter: Three Years Ago

I looked at Cydney today and thought to myself “Wow, you’ve changed quickly.” I went through my phone and looked at pictures of her in June 2011 and 2012. My next thought was “Holy shit, you’ve existed for three years now.” I remembered exactly what was going on three years ago to the date. In […]

5/21/12: The Final Court Date

May 21 had been marked off on my mental calendar for almost three months. I always knew I was getting my daughter back so I was never worried about that. After all that I’d been through since between the pregnancy, cancer, and moving around; this chapter could finally close and Timile could rest in peace. […]

April 2011

At this time, Timile was settled into Buffalo. I was adjusting, but I wasn’t there just yet. I was making trips to New York every other week to go back and get more of our things. I didn’t know anyone in Buffalo and I would look forward to that drive through the mountains headed downstate. […]

Custody

We woke up at 7AM. Cydney woke up singing patty cake. I smiled big because I woke up with my little girl next to me. My mother, Cydney, and I had a quick breakfast at the Waffle House on Mercury Boulevard but I wasn’t really hungry. I was going over my gamelan for court. I […]

Reunited

April 3, 2012. Everything was in place, Cydney’s room was set up, my mom was recovering from surgery so it was time to go get my girl. We left New York at midnight. My mom and I prayed for a safe travel and things to go smooth. We got to the Hampton Sheriff’s department at […]

Getting Ready For Cydney’s Arrival

By the end of March, I hired a lawyer and was getting ready for my custody hearing May 21. While I did hire one gor insurance purposes, he didn’t give me any information I hadn’t figured out on my own. I knew I would get Cydney back because since it had been established that I […]

The First Few Days In Buffalo

After our trying out Memorial Sloan-Kettering for Timile’s treatments, we decided to make the move to Buffalo. Timile preferred to be around her family so we did it. I dropped everything I was doing and made the move. I was in the middle of producing an album for a band and just had to say […]

My Impromptu Court Hearing In Virginia

So, last week I wrote about how the court appointed DNA test proved that Cydney was in fact my daughter and how I was headed to Virginia to file for custody down there. I left Monday afternoon and got into Virginia Beach around midnight. I remember that bus ride because while I was awake the […]