Michael E. Reid - Dear Woman

Dear Woman

Dear Woman

Written By: Michael E. Reid
Edited by: Meloni C. Williams

Dreams On Paper Entertainment Publishing

Philadelphia

Also by Michael E. Reid

The Boyfriend Book
Just Words
Just Words 2

Copyright 2018 Michael E. Reid
Published by D.O.P.E. Publishing, an imprint of Mango Publishing Group.

Cover Art Illustrator: Jailyn Easley
Layout & Design: Jermaine Lau

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Library of Congress Cataloging
ISBN: (print) 978-1-63353-839-9 (ebook) 978-1-63353-840 -5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018952295
BISAC category code: POE023020 POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Love & Erotica, FAM029000 FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Love & Romance

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to every woman I have ever met.

Some for minutes, some for months, some forever.

I listened. I thought. I wrote.

No matter how many times the world changes what it means to be a woman, you never stop being a woman in it.

This Book Belongs To:

Dear Woman,

This is YOUR book.

With it comes the responsibility to be a better woman.

Also a better friend, a better daughter, a better mother, a better wife.

Not everything will apply.

What does: take with you for the rest of your life.

What doesnt: make sure it never will apply.

This book comes with an obligation

An obligation to not only be a better woman

but, also, to build better women around you.

Do not take this duty lightly.

One day, your daughter will need friends.

Someday, your son will need a wife.

The best way to make sure they have the best opportunities to find beautiful women is for you to do your part in helping to build them.

May these words bring you great pleasure, great peace, and great hope.

Respectfully,

Michael E. Reid

Table of Contents

Save Some for
the Good Guy

Foreword

Today is June 1, 2018, and it has been exactly three years, five months, and eighteen days since I originally released Dear Woman . Words cannot express the gratitude and humility I feel after receiving some of the testimonials from its readers. You are surely in for a treat. Thank you so much to everyone who has messaged me on social media, emailed, and stopped me on the street. All of your kind words and heartfelt praise are the fuel that still keeps my fire burning all these years later.

While we have a few pages before you get into my work, let me tell you a bit about myself. First, obviously you know my name is Mike. As I type this, I am a thirty-three-year-old African American male from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I am a proud product of a single-parent household. I was fortunate enough to have witnessed the struggle of watching a mother try to provide for her children alone at first hand. So, to those women who are currently living in that truth: I see you, I love you, and I pray for you daily.

I also have a younger sibling whom I love very much. My sister Charlonda is about four years younger than me, so in addition to being raised by a woman, I also had the amazing opportunity of attempting to assist in raising one. These responsibilities, which while growing up felt like handicaps to my own personal growth and development, are the pillars on which I stand today.

Witnessing those experiences firsthand: a father walking out on his children, a woman attempting to process and accept an unsuccessful marriage, a daughter trying to grasp why her father isnt around anymore, were pains that I eventually turned into a beautiful purpose. So, to those who are struggling with pain today: fear not, for what you do with that pain can turn burdens into blessings.

I was in the third grade when my father left. Domestic violence, drug abuse, alcoholism, and infidelity were the wedges that drove my parents apart. Talking to my mother years later, when I felt we were both mature enough and healed enough to have a real conversation about it, she said, Maybe if there were only one or two battles to fight, it could have worked. Unfortunately, having so many holes in the armor of their marriage left her in a position of hopelessness. But instead of being the final nail in the coffin of her attempt at love and family, that hopelessness became a seed. A seed that our new family planted and watered daily with love, strength, God, and each other.

I did my best to be a good sonwith a few bumps and bruises along the way, most of which were inflicted by my mom. At 55, sometimes she felt as if the only way she could discipline her 62 180-pound man-child was with an iron fistand sometimes even an ironing board. This proved to be useful to a point. Eventually her discipline shifted to tough love by way of cutting her strings of support. As I got older, I was faced with having to fend for myself for the things I wanted. If I was grown enough to skip school, talk back, and miss curfew, I was old enough to learn how to provide for myself.

This form of discipline was tougher than any beating she ever gave me, but it was what most certainly catapulted me into manhood. I started off with summer jobs at the age of thirteen that continued through high school. By seventeen, as a senior, I was splitting my time between classes and a part-time job at McDonalds. Eventually, I had my first dance with the law; that put my dreams of being a nurse like my mother to the side. Two months before my eighteenth birthday, I found myself in Great Lakes, Illinois, with a shaved head, in sweatpants with no pockets. My juvenile status as a defendant coupled with my fathers influence as one of the most respected social workers in the city (how ironic) left me with the options of either being put through a series of rehabilitation services in Philadelphia or joining the military.

My 3.3 grade point average and SAT score of 1220 out of a possible 1600 gave me the option to choose which branch of the military I wanted to join. I chose the Navy. This was such a huge stepping stone in my elevation into manhood. The military taught me all the things that my mother didnt, and that my father didnt want to. To all those reading this who have also served our country, I offer my salute. To all the mothers looking for ways to rescue their own man-child from the ways of the world and of the streets, I would take a strong look at the military. The sense of honor, courage, and commitment to myself, as well as to something bigger than me, proved so useful to me and my future.