Any and everything can trigger a memory. For R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan, being in the Pier 1 department store brings her back to sadder times. A time when she would walk up and down the aisles, crying, because she didn't want to be home with an abusive boyfriend.
Sullivan revealed all of this in an Instagram post she put up Saturday. She's standing in a Pier 1 store, and it made her think about how that used to be a place of refuge.
"The last time I was in this store was during my abusive relationship [with] my ex 3-4 years ago. I used to come and walk around this store for hours, just to get away from him and the house," Sullivan wrote. "I would cry in here."
The Pier 1 staff let her be: "The workers never bothered me. I guess they could tell a sad girl when they saw her."
The story ends well. Sullivan is no longer in that relationship, and now she can stand in Pier 1 and be grateful for having escaped that situation.
"But today I was joyful, laughing and feeling love from my bestfraan. So I'd like to take the time to thank God for who and where I am today. Walking around this store [with] this happy attitude today may be small to anyone else, but I know from where God brought me. So I just wanted to share. Take a minute and thank God that ur not where u used to be!!!"
Well said, Jazmine. It's motivation for anyone who might be going through it.
Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele is a staff writer at The Root and the founder and executive producer of Lectures to Beats, a Web series that features video interviews with scarily insightful people. Follow Lectures to Beats on Facebook and Twitter.
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