AMIL's ANECDOTE

AA39

The earth made two full orbits around the sun, privileging Amil with improvements to her life with every sunrise and sunset. After a year straight of nomadism while completing the documentary, Amil finally settled back in Houston after concluding that there was no place like home. The only difference was she now had her own place, right in Downtown Houston. A prestigious neighborhood that she'd had her eyes on since a little girl. For the first time in her life, Amil finally felt accomplished. Feelings of joy reigned her nervous system every time she just so happened to pause in front of her living room floor to ceiling window and look over the city with a warm grin bedecking her face, which is exactly what she did this morning while slipping on her sneakers.

Once the shoes were on her feet and laced up, Amil eyed herself in the mirror while adjusting her ponytail. A small chuckle fell from her lips once she realized she upgraded from her Target workout sets, to now having an array of Alo Yoga pieces to choose from. Though it was a small asinine detail, it highlighted how positively things changed in her life and how her yearns became her reality. While she didn't have everything, she felt like she had it all together, and that meant everything to her.

Abruptly, Amil pulled herself out of her trance and headed for her door. She locked everything behind her and proceeded to ride the elevator down to the lobby and out the revolving doors of her building. Amil seemed to have the perfect balance of things, which allowed her the time for to do things she loved, like running. After making nice with a few of her neighbors, Amil found herself joining the neighborhood running club. The group met every other couple of days and kept each other company while taking a light jog around the area. Amil wasn't sure if it was because she had a background in track and field, but she observed that they never went too fast. In Amil's opinion, they should've been called a power walking club. Nonetheless, she still loved the group and the activity.

"Amil!" Monica exclaimed in a sing song tone once she laid her eyes on her friend. "Hey." Amil greeted with a light chuckle. Upon meeting regularly with the club for about a year straight, Amil became close with a couple girls who were in the group as well. Monica, who was a Data Scientist from Dallas seemed to almost immediately cling to her. Upon their talks while strolling, they discovered they were way too fond of each other to only run together, leading them to hanging out together outside of the running club and forming a friendship. Amil believed it had something to do with them being the only black women in the group for the longest. That was until Janae joined the club, making it 3 young black women who all shared common interests.

"I thought you weren't coming—I almost turned around and went back home." Monica announced, causing Amil to lightly chuckle. "Where's Janae?" She questioned after observing that her friend wasn't with the group this morning.

"Probably handling something for work." Monica assumed, Amil shook her head in agreement. Janae worked as a residential architect and dabbled in interior design, which occupied a lot of her time, even outside of her contract hours. "Yeah, probably." Amil replied, briefly looking down at her Apple Watch.

"I met AJ's parents last night." Monica announced, making Amil's eyebrows fold in confusion. "Already?" Amil questioned. For a split second, the girls mirrored confused expressions on their faces. This era of Amil felt like an episode of Girlfriend's. Between work, her friends, and her shit show of a dating life, for the first time in Amil's life, she resonated with each character for very specific reasons.

"What you mean already?" Monica questioned back. Amil shrugged her shoulders, though she very certain of what she meant when she said already. "You just met him." Amil voiced. To be specific, they met about a month ago at a birthday party that Monica was Amil's plus one at. From Amil's knowledge, they went on a couple dates and began to move like married couple ever since. While Amil believed it was love bombing, Monica's sentiments very obviously differed.