Our family was all excited to go up to Canada for a few Saturdays in February because my husband is taking a course for work. Something different on a Saturday, a chance to go explore our neighboring country which is only about a ten-minute drive from our house.

On Friday night, in preparation for the next day’s trip, I pulled out all of our passports just to double-check that everything was copasetic (btw this is one of my favorite words!). Looking at Benjamin’s I realized his was coming close to being renewed. Children under 16 have to be renewed every 5 years, they change so much in such a short time!

Everything was looking good until I came to my passport. And I read…

Expires: 24 JAN 2023

No Way!

It was the 27th the day I was looking. I remember looking at all of our passport expirations sometime last September, but I must have thought that January 2023 was so far off!

To say I was shocked would probably be an understatement. I was a little bit embarrassed, and also just disappointed because the boys and I were looking forward to our little adventures while D’Aquin was in class.

Of course, I immediately ran to the internet to see if there was another way that I could get across the border, but short of an enhanced driver’s license which I do not have, it really wasn’t worth the risk.

Saturday came and instead of going to Canada, the boys and I walked down to the local Rite Aid for new passport photos. I came home and applied for a new passport online. That is right, the whole process is done completely online. There was a little bit of a wait when I created my account, but after that, it was pretty smooth sailing. No need to go to the local post office. I didn’t even need to have an official passport photo. You have the option to upload a photo taken with your phone. I did not realize this until after I had the passport photo taken.

(FYI…for children, you still have to have an official passport photo and go to the post office).

I now am patiently waiting for the passport to arrive.

Besides going to Canada for these little trips it is important for all of our family to keep our passports up to date in case we need to travel to Benin in a hurry.

I just thought I would share this little story with all of you...maybe some of you will go and check your expiration dates!

I now have all of our renewal dates, which they recommend done six months before the passport expires, in my calendar. Oh, the lessons learned on a normal Friday evening!

Èkodjayé

Back in December 2022, I found out about the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) through the ASU Venture Devils email newsletter:

Students apply to participate in CGI U’s year-round community of learning, leadership, and action — beginning with a global meeting where participants, topic experts, and high-profile innovators convene to support and learn from each other.

Over the course of the program, rising leaders participate in trainings, modules, and tailored events that help formulate their ideas and provide the necessary resources, feedback, and tools to transform their ideas into action.

Looking at what it entailed, I thought, wow, this looks like it could be beneficial for me as I work to make Èkodjayé a reality.

So I applied. It was a very carefree, no-stress sort of application. Just answered the questions in under 1500 characters and pushed SUBMIT. I had the opportunity to go in and make some revisions, but I decided against it (which is very unlike me!).

I basically forgot about it as the new semester began and life moved forward in 2023. Last Thursday I received an email informing me that I was selected to join the Clinton Global Initiative University community!

Wow! Cool, I thought. They have an upcoming conference in Nashville, but due to cost, I had not planned on attending.

This past Wednesday I received an email from my college (Mary Lou Fulton Teachers’ College at ASU) letting me know that they were going to cover my travel to attend the conference! Apparently, the coordinator of the CGI U program at ASU had contacted them.

Okay - I realized, this must be a bigger deal than I thought. I emailed the coordinator to find out how many students had been accepted into this CGI U community this time around. I thought that she would say 100 at least.

Twelve.

12 people were chosen. And I was one of them.

I am so excited and honored about this opportunity. I suppose what makes this invite even more amazing is that I basically did it on a whim. And it was all stress-free. Isn’t this the way it is supposed to be??!!

So now, I will be enjoying Nashville the first weekend in March in a whirlwind trip to attend the conference which is being held at Vanderbilt University.

If anyone has any tips or good places to eat that they know of in Nashville (not that I will have time!) send them my way! This will be my first time in the music city.

A few other things…

It has been quite a week, to say the least. As I write this I am listening to gusts of wind blow past the house and my children’s laughs as they play in the crazy windy weather.

I watched The Fisherman’s Friends movies this week, and their music is now on repeat. Take a listen to the list below and you will be singing sea shanty’s all weekend long!

Also, the boys and I learned about some incredible sea creatures. Just watch the YouTube videos and the coconut octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) and peacock mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda) will be topics of conversation at your dinner table. So many amazing species exist on this planet!

Why Subscribe??

I’m sure that at one point or another, you have been asked to become a paid subscriber to this newsletter. If you are wondering why you should - here are a few reasons…

* The opportunity to be a part of the community that I am creating. Friends and family, new subscribers, I greatly enjoy sharing my story and journey with you as I navigate many different avenues.

* A way to financially support me and my future goals (Ekodjaye and The Kouda Company...more on those later!) as I go through this doctoral program. Things are slowly moving forward as I look for funding for those larger goals, but right now it is all me.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week ahead!

Stay well and smile often 😃

TODAY’S PICKS…what I would share if we were chatting at the water cooler 💦

📖  READING …Besides all the articles for school 🙂  Strong Mothers, Strong Sons by Meg Meeker, M.D ; Talking to Strangers by Malcom Gladwell ; Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty; just added Tranquility Tuesdays by Laura Vanderkam

🎧  LISTENING …Marketplace Podcast…I have been learning about the economy from Kai Rysdal and the crew for over 5 years!

🎶  MUSIC …Sea Shanty’s! All because I watched The Fisherman’s Friends 🎣

Get full access to Life with Debra K at debrakouda.substack.com/subscribe