I did that for 4 months until I finally got up the nerve and I ASKED HIM OUT! Pitiful! I know, but it just shows you yet another pattern; IF AMY FOLEY BERRY WANTS SOMETHING SHE AIN’T AFRAID TO ASK! He said yes and well the rest is history! Kind of!!!!!
At the end of that school year, Trey was returning back to Texas A & M as he was only at UNT for two semesters for a specific certification that UNT offered. So what did I do? Well, I did what any normal SENIOR in college would do! I transferred to Blinn College, which for those of you who do not know Blinn, that is a two year program. AND before anyone jumps on me I am not knocking two year programs! As a matter of fact I LOVE JUNIOR COLLEGES! Why? Well, for a number of reasons but mainly because it cost a lot less and you can get your boring basics out of the way at discounted price! A HUGE discount I might add. You just have to be smart and make sure everything transfers over, but most people do not transfer into a Junior College their Senior year of a four year program…..BUT AMY FOLEY BERRY sure does! Especially when she is in love!
Bob Foley was not too pleased with me at this time in life! And that is a funny story in and of itself….I just want you to remember he thought I was NUTS and I had lost my mind! Well, I knew what I was doing! I promise! I did it all for love! Ha!
While at Blinn I went to work for the Colonel. He was the dean of students and he had a military background. God knew what he was doing when he opened that door up! What a life experience. I learned a lot about time management, priorities, people skills, hard work, and respect of others and their time. The biggest lesson he taught me was how important it was to get to know your instructor no matter how big or small your class is. That helped me so much when I transitioned into A & M the next semester. What a change that was for me! Going from mid size classes at UNT to very small and intimate at Blinn and then WHAM I was in the middle of the ocean of Texas A & M and the only life raft I had was my communication skills! Thanks to the Colonel I did just fine there and when I transferred back to UNT. YEP! You read that right! I transferred back to UNT! Why? Well, because I liked to keep my parents on their toes! That’s why!!!!
No! Not really. The truth is Trey graduated in May and when I spoke to the Dean of the Communications school it was going to take me another 1-2 years to graduate. I did not like that idea because honestly I did not enjoy school. I remember driving up to UNT in the beginning of May and went straight to their communication department and we worked it out to where if I took 18 hours in the summer and 18 in the fall I could graduate. Trey told me if I did that we could get married. I was so excited what do you think I did? I took my tail back to UNT and buckled down and graduated so we could get married! Well, folks we did not get married!!!! Matter of fact we broke up a little less than a year after I graduated! Am I bitter about that? Nope because I learned a lot about hard work, creative problem solving, and I learned if someone is madly in love, well, there is not a lot you can do to change their mind. Trust me! No one was changing mine! I am proud to say even with all that chaos, I graduated on the deans list with at 3.95 and I did it my way and I would not change any of it!
From there I went to work for my father at Buzz Print slinging ink across Dallas, Texas! What a fun job sales is! I LOVED almost every aspect of it! The game, the challenge, the getting to meet new people all the time, and the sheer adrenaline rush when you landed the big deal! What I did not love was when things went wrong. I had quite a temper so much so my baby brother Paul nicknamed me Tawanda! I could get pretty nasty. But, over time I am proud to say I have learned to tame that temper. It took A LOT of years though! A LOT!!!!!
While working at Buzz Print I decided I wanted to run a marathon. Not really sure why because I ABHOR running! But I signed up through The Leukemia Society of America. This might have been the BEST thing that happened to me in my mid 20’s because it quickly brought me out of a very selfish time in life and showed me the gift of serving. My first patient I ran for was a little girl by the name of Jennifer. She was the cutest, most shy, little cutie pie. Her mama and I became really good friends and through Donna and Jennifer I met many other kids with cancer. So many that I let my little chicken butt, Lea, talk me into doing another marathon because that is what you do when you hate running. You run more!!!!! Before I knew it I had my little tribe. Lea, Cooper, Jennifer, and Kaityln. These kiddos and their families were my life. I got to know their doctors, their nurses, and their siblings. I learned so much about strength, courage, faith, guts, advocating for oneself and for your child, and what is really important in life. News flash…..it ain’t what car you drive or purse you carry. It is the time we have with each other….Just sayin….because of my little tribe and their lives I got to not only be a part of The Leukemia Society of America but I got to be a part of The Clayton Dabney Foundation and Challenge Aspen. What an honor and what a privilege. I will never forget that period in my life. Ever. I grew up so much and I cherish those memories, those families, and those individuals who believed in me and let me participate. And now I have an angel in heaven who watches over me daily.
