Wynston

My alarm clock goes off and I hit the snooze button again.

I really should have been up, prayed and in the shower by now but today I am literally running on fumes.

I just got in the bed maybe four hours ago or was it three?

I lay down for another fifteen minutes when the alarm buzzes again I know this time I must get up.

I look at the red numbers on my clock they are mocking me saying it’s four forty five in the morning and I groan.

I pull myself out of bed and put my feet on the floor.

I look around thankful that I had the frame of mind to at least clean up my house and bedroom last night.

I grab my phone heading to the living room to pray.

I cast my favorite praise and worship playlist to my chrome cast and grab my devotional off the coffee table.

I stand next to the couch and lift my arms becoming lost in the music.

I give God his time first and give him all he is due.

I pray then read my morning scriptures and devotional already feeling better.

I have learned that all I need when I feel tired and worn down is to spend some time with the Lord.

He always knows what to do and can lead you in the direction you need to go.

I turn off the music and cast my favorite YouTube workout station onto the television.

I can’t do all the moves they do because let’s face it I am a workout novice.

But I have been consistently working out for six months and I have managed to shed sixty pounds!

I can’t believe the change in my body my stomach has nearly disappeared, and my once nonexistent waistline has come screaming into view.

My which is its own zip code has remained but has lifted and become perkier.

I even managed to keep my s although they have shrunk a couple of sizes.

And I am not complaining one bit because now I can wear cute bras and not the granny old lady style that I had to get before because I had enough s for three grown women.

My thighs still touch but that is because they are in love with each other and can’t bear the thought of being apart.

LOL! I kid I kid…

I guess if I was one of those gym fanatics, I could get my thighs to obey but I barely have time to get this forty-five-minute workout in as it is!

I work 80 hours a week in the bakery and any other time I have is for church, sleep my family, the family real estate company and friends in that order.

I do not have time for anything else at this point.

A social life? What's that??

I own and up and coming bakery in the heart of Koreatown in Chicago.

At first, I just wanted a space to do wedding cakes because I had literally ran out of counter space in my house.

It got so bad that I had to store my cake decorating materials in the linen closet!

When I saw the fondant scrapers on the shelf next to my maxi pads, I knew enough was enough.

I am right next to the open market which is ideal because hundreds of people walk by us daily.

I was raised by mom, my Great Aunt Georgia, and Uncle Frank.

With their help my mother was able to go back to college and get a Master’s in Nursing.

She is currently running her own private practice with no signs of slowing down or retiring.

Aunt Georgia passed in her sleep when I was a senior in high school.

Shortly after Uncle Frank took in my young cousin Lysette.

Her mother Lina was the only left living relative on his sister’s side of the family and she was out there bad.

At first I was concerned he was already in his early 60’s but he told me family takes cares of family and I knew that better than anyone.

So, mom and I did what families do we helped take care of her.

Mom adopted her when she was five making her my little sister officially.

I had already felt she was in my heart and called her as much.

Uncle Frank died while I was in France.

He had been there my whole life and I could not imagine him not being there when I got married or had children.

It was literally unimaginable!!

I walked around in a fog for a few weeks but when I thought about him being reunited with Aunt Georgia, I felt peace.

It was at the reading of his will a month later we found out he left me the house I lived in and set up a fund to have to remodeled if needed.

Here is the dousey....

He left Mom, Lysette and I each seventy-five million dollars each!

He left us seventy-five million freaking dollars!!!!

EACH!!!!

“Like huh?”

“Like what?”

“Wait a minute”….

I knew he had money, but he had SMONEY OK!

He lived in the same house as long as I have been alive, and he lived modestly.

He drove the same car he purchased brand new when I was twenty and I was thirty-five when he passed.

How did he make all his money you ask?

Real estate! He purchased and rented out several homes here in Chicago.

He owned about twenty apartment buildings in Manhattan, ten brownstones in Harlem, four houses in Brooklyn, sixteen apartment complexes New York, four mansions in Miami, twenty apartments in Orlando, ten in Atlanta, and he owned four apartments in the French Quarter in New Orleans.

I knew about those though because that is where we stayed whenever we went there.

Not to mention he owned three apartment buildings in Seoul, South Korea, two mansions in Jamaica and six apartment complexes in Honolulu!!

But Seoul freaking South Korea? When did he go there? I had no clue it seems I didn’t know as much about him as I thought!

At his death he was worth nearly four hundred million dollars and this was after our inheritance payouts and the taxes being paid on them.

It boggles my mind....

His business alone is worth that much, so his total net worth is dang near a billion dollars!

When I tell you, I had to take a nap after the will was read chile I was at my weakest!

He left money to several charities and set up monthly payments to be allotted to the local soup kitchen we volunteered at.

He even paid off the building and had it remodeled to be up to date with current technology and design.

He literally thought of everything.

He has a corporate team that took care of real estate named after his father Linden Enterprises.

The funny part is I had read about the very same company in a magazine, weeks before as becoming one of the fastest up and coming and best real estate firms in America.

With its owner being black and one of the richest men in the United States.

And it turned out to be his company.

I just felt like dang girl where you been?

He left everything else to mom to eventually be passed onto us upon her death.

I knew I could go to him if I needed financial help and I tried to never have to do that.

He paid for my education, my monthly credit card balances and brought me a brand-new car plus I lived in his rental property for free I could pay for my own Knick knacks.

Every month I’d try to give him money for my cell phone and car insurance and he’d say, “It’s already taken care of love go buy yourself something nice.”

“Uncle Frank, I can’t let you continue to pay my bills I am almost 35!”

“But I got a family plan, and your phone was free it’s nothing.” He'd say.

I even tried to sneak and leave the money on the kitchen table but then he would mail it to me!!

He thought he was so slick.

They only way I could ever do anything for him was to bake and cook for him which he loved.

We decided to sell the mansions in Florida and split that money between the three of us.

When all was said and done that was another forty-five million each!

The smallest house sold for a whopping twenty-two point six million dollars on its own!!

Momma signed away her claim to the real estate business to Lysette and I because she said she had her own business and was in no way interested in running another one.

So, I became the CEO of Linden Enterprises with Lysette being the CFO.

I had worked for years in the corporate world receiving my MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

I minored in finance and have a rather good handle on money.

I managed to save a decent chunk before I decided the corporate life was not for me and ran off to Paris to go Pastry school.

Uncle Frank was thrilled momma not so much.

She thought I lost it and was having a midlife crisis at 35.

I had always loved to bake and after watching Pastry Kings on Netflix I indeed had a revelation.

I packed my suitcase grabbed my passport and booked a one-way ticket to Paris.

Lysette was slated to go Harvard for but decided to stay closer to home for which I am extremely grateful.

She is due to graduate in three months and when she passes the bar will become the CFO and Senior Counsel for Linden Enterprises LLC.

“You have become a cheapskate since you got rich.” Lysette told me a few months ago.

“You dang skippy I am trying to keep my money that’s why.”

So, while she has splurged considerably I have simply remodeled my house, which my uncle paid for, purchased six brand spanking delivery vans for the bakery, purchased the entire building next door to the bakery and made it into one cohesive space adding an additional 5five thousand square feet in the process.

There is now a gym, sauna, showers and an employee break room.

The décor has been updated and the kitchens now have brand new appliances.

I donated generously to my church and several charities.

And the fact that I didn’t have to pay to for my home is a win win situation.

Momma got the main house and a fund to fix it up however she wanted and Lysette basically stays between her house and mine.

“Why move when I can live at home?” She said.

Why indeed?

So, when Chef Lee my favorite Pastry instructor at Le Cordon Bleu told me she wanted to retire and she asked me if I was interested in buying the bakery.

I was like ummmm yeah!!

Having one viable business is a miracle but two is a blessing from God.

It was as if Uncle Frank had arranged it all from Heaven.

I know had the capital I needed to buy the bakery and I didn’t need to take out a loan.

I doubt truthfully that Uncle Frank would have let me take one out if he were still here.

But I sure would have tried!

Initially I planned to stay in France to do my externship but had to come home because momma was a wreck and I had to take care of all the funeral arrangements.

He wanted to be buried in his beloved New Orleans next to his parents and Aunt Georgia.

My school was understanding and luckily, I was able to complete my program working as a pastry chef assistan