Walk Like You Have Somewhere to Go

     In her book, “Walk Like You Have Somewhere to Go,” Lucille O’Neal, mother of Shaquille O’Neal, shares her journey through life.  She is very candid in her book sharing not only the good things that happened but also sharing the bad things that happened. 

     Her parents divorced when she was young and as a result Lucille, her father, brother, and sister all moved from Georgia to New Jersey into her paternal grandparents already overcrowded home.  She became pregnant when she was seventeen and was a single mother for two years before getting married.  Lucille had three more children with her husband who joined the Army as a way to provide for the growing family.  The Army allowed their family to travel to Georgia, Germany and Texas, but to make ends meet Lucille also had to work.  The draining demands of being an Army wife (which meant shifting into single parent mode when her husband left for training), being a mother of four and having to work left Lucille emotionally and mentally spent.  Lucille soon turned to drinking heavily on the weekends as a way to relax.

     Throughout her story, Lucille shares things that she learned.  Instead of blaming her parents for the way that she was raised she says, “My motto is, once you turn thirty-five years old, you need to forgive your parents for everything and let it go.”  As her children got older, Lucille yearned to become more than just a wife and mother.  She says, “As human beings, I really believe we all have a desire on some level to see what we’re made of.  We all have that yearning inside to prove to ourselves that we can get by using just the wits and skills we were born with.”  Lucille went to college where she earned a bachelor’s degree and then went on to earn her master’s degree.  She says, “I’m a living and breathing testament that life begins and flourishes at whatever age you become comfortable in your own skin and whenever it is that you fall in love with what you see when you look in the mirror each morning.

     I cannot give this book high enough praise.  Lucille’s story is truly inspirational to everyone in all walks of life.  Not only did she share her story adding all of the not so pretty details but at the end of the book she also shares forty scriptures from the bible and what she has learned from them.  This book was a great read and if she chooses to write more books I will read those too.