Yolanda Foster: I Saw a Lot of Power Struggles

Hi Everyone,

Talk about new beginnings... It's been a whirlwind of events all starting with Merry, New, and Happy so I guess I should start by saying...I'm Grateful.

I celebrated my birthday this week. I wanted to just let it pass, but I realized that sometimes your birthday is a chance for friends and family to express their love and gratitude and so "I pulled up my bootstraps" as I like to say, and I did it...a small lunch with my best girlfriends. I've had more outings these past weeks than I've had in a year. I don't last long, and my sensitivities feel limiting--it's such an adjustment to go "back into the world"--but these short windows of time out motivate me and make me want to get to the finish line.

My birthday lunch was special for so many reasons. It made me so happy to look around the table and see my die-hard inner circle: the ones that stood by me through the good and the bad times, especially these past four years.
I have learned that friendship isn't about who you've known the longest, it's about who came and never left your side.

I used to think I had and needed so many friends to feel loved. I know now that if you have one or two, you are good. More than that, you are great. I am a lucky girl with my table of eight.

Tonight's show was hard to watch for different reasons than weeks past: I watched my girlfriend Erika experience what I've witnessed so much of over the years--having to face adversity for being who you are and for expressing yourself in an authentic way. Why do we have to explain who we are or why we do what we do? Aren't we entitled to living our lives? Just because mine does not look like yours, there has to be something wrong?

Bethenny Has a Lot of Opinions About Erika

Hearing the word "raunchy" rubbed me the wrong way. There is nothing raunchy about someone living out their passion and walking the walk they talk. Let's not forget that someone's "raunchy" is infusing joy into thousands of people, and through her artistry she can INSPIRE!

I saw a lot of power struggles on tonight's show. Fear is our worst enemy, ladies, and when you find yourself having a reaction to someone else's life because it doesn't look like yours, dig deep and find out if perhaps that reaction is, in fact, coming from a place of desire.

Erika, keep doing you, baby. I love you!

I'm still unpacking, waiting for furniture and window treatments, still settling in, though nothing during transition ever feels like it's settling. For every box that opens, another memory rises, but it's with all of the past that I manifest energy for a bright future. I'm determined to brew into something really good. I realize my time is now and that this is not a dress rehearsal. That said, bootstraps up and time to dive into the next chapter, which is just the beginning of Lyme Life 2.0: doing it, whatever it takes!

Much love and gratitude to all of you, whose well wishes and birthday banter has made me smile so much these days. I see it all, I read your lines...

Thank you!

xoxo,

Yo