LeeAnne: Always a Bull, Never a Bully

Welcome back, everyone! I told y’all it would be a rodeo this season and I hope y’all have saddled up, because I am already hanging on for dear life! This episode took me through the emotions of being inspired and proud to feeling disappointed and frustrated all within one very short hour!

I make friends with people who set me straight, not beat around the bush. One of those friends is D'Andra Simmons. A woman who takes a no-holds-barred approach to life and me. Trust me, I knew I was gonna get spanked when we met for lunch, and I was fine with it. I value that honesty. That’s what I’ve been saying all along. Hearing her use the same words as my therapist, “That’s not who you are,” brought me back down to earth. I thought, Is there just something aboutStephanie Hollman that brings out my “little LeeAnne” bad behavior? Maybe.

Is it the friends like D’Andra who bring out the best part of me? Definitely. She helped me take off my blinders. Was I wrong for wearing the costume? Of course. Again, that’s why I didn’t tell D’Andra why I did it in the first place (I knew she wouldn’t approve). She made me realize that by behaving that way, I was "stooping to her level and digging in the dirt," and she was right. Pay attention, and watch closely. As the weeks go on, you’ll see me become stronger and wiser with my therapist’s help. I know I’m making some mistakes right now, and trust me; they are harder for me to watch than anyone. But I can’t go back and change them; I can only change myself going forward.

I am so happy to have PositiviTEA benefiting Legacy Counseling, www.LegacyCounseling.org, and the work they do with HIV+ women in our community highlighted again this year. Shame is a serious problem, and sadly, it too often leads to suicide. If you or anyone you know is struggling with the diagnosis HIV please reach out to Legacy. Their hotline is open 24 hours.

Having friends like Heidi that call me the "Heart of the South" even when I call myself the "Mouth of the South" just goes to show the amazing support system I have in Dallas. She is another friend who is a true straight shooter. So of course, I thought I was going to love having the chance to show how amazing and beautiful she is after she was made out to be something she is not last year. So it was beyond disappointing to see Steph bad mouth Heidi, all while complaining that we were talking trash about her house. The observations made weren’t trash talk; they were observations. The talk coming from Steph was personal, wrong, and below the belt - typical Hollman style.

Now onto…
Ring, ring! Adolescence is calling, and it wants its prank back.

Oh. My. Goodness. Please tell me that prank call scene didn’t happen. Not only was that childish it was not funny. In today’s world, such a call leads a person to question their safety. The safety of their family and their home. I mean, that was creep-ville, y’all. Heidi actually hired an outside consultant to see if they could track the call to make sure they were all safe. While these two thought this was as funny as poop talk, it brought serious discomfort to someone I truly care about. NOT OKAY. Luckily, Heidi Dillon handles this type of child’s play like a REAL Dallas woman. Ugh, why are they both so aware when someone does something they don’t like, but completely unaware of the injury they inflict on others? Eh, just something to think about.

Okay, so it’s time to pull my own blinders off about Stephanie’s house. When I watched that scene of all of us discussing her new house, I was truly disappointed in myself. It was wrong of me and I came off petty. However, it’s interesting to me that Brandi Redmond criticizes me for talking about Stephanie’s home at the end of the event. I was mostly curious as to why Stephanie would not have told her "best friend" that she had bought a new house, yet the rest of us already knew about it...Even Brandi thinks that was weird. It’s odd to watch this scene because Brandi is apparently frustrated with my input at the event, yet in her confessionals agrees with EVERY WORD… “Stephanie cares about what other people think. She wants to be somebody that is looked upon highly in society and that’s where I think my guard is up.” Brandi’s words… but I have to say, I don’t disagree.

When I heard Brandi announce her rule that I’m not allowed in her home, I couldn’t do anything but laugh. LOL. You guys, I have been in her home; I have never heard of that "rule" before, and it’s just so blatant that it’s funny.

When Steph said, “I snatched her from LeeAnne!” --- UH, CUE THE RECORD SCRATCH, because Brandi is not a possession. And if you were truly her friend you wouldn't need to "snatch her” from anyone. That was the first sign that what I thought was going to happen was indeed happening. Steph began the trash talk about me, forcing Brandi into a friendship corner, where she had to choose. AHEM, something I never did. When you treat people like possessions, their true beautiful value is lost. Maybe Brandi was right, and Steph never valued her to begin with, unless it suited her.

Now that we have criticized LeeAnne all episode and prank called Heidi, let’s play petty one more time to wrap the show up! Next victim: Kameron Westcott. At this point, I am absolutely not surprised that Brandi invitesCary Deuber and Stephanie on a trip right in front of Kameron, while deliberately excluding her. As I replay our conversations, it saddens me to begin to question our friendship. Is Brandi like Stephanie, only using me because she needed an ally? I gave so much of my vulnerability to her, and watching this episode makes me feel like a complete fool. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice - ain’t gonna happen. I live in a world where honesty means something. Where lives can depend on it. I take pride in being honest and blunt. It isn't the popular choice, but it’s the only choice I have. Lying and manipulating people for your own personal gain is just not who I am, nor ever going to be.

Next stop - the trip heard round the world! Sides are being drawn, and I hope you can tell which side is the truthful one! Hope you had a FUN Labor Day weekend! See ya next week! #LoveLeeAnne Locken

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