Lets Just Talk About It Podcast with Chuck

(Ep.108) You're Not Alone with Guest Vikisha Smith

• Season 3 • Episode 108

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What does it take to find hope in the darkest of times? Join us in a gripping conversation with Vikisha Smith as she bravely recounts the heart-wrenching loss of her daughter, Ke 'Asia Andrea' Adkins in 2018. Through Vikisha's candid and emotional storytelling, we learn about Ke 'Asia's vibrant life, her many talents in dance, sports, and academics, and the unbreakable bond she shared with her mother. Vikisha opens up about the devastating moment she realized her daughter was missing, revealing the layers of grief compounded by the involvement of a family member. This poignant dialogue not only honors Ke' Asia's life but also showcases Vikisha's extraordinary resilience in the aftermath of unimaginable tragedy.

My discussion with Vikisha unfolds the complexity of navigating personal trauma while grappling with fractured family dynamics. She shares the relentless search for her daughter, highlighting how technology and relentless determination led to uncovering the truth. As Vikisha reflects on her journey of healing, she emphasizes the importance of therapy, storytelling, and creative outlets. Through initiatives like "Ke' Asia's Angels" and personal projects such as journaling and book publishing, Vikisha transforms personal pain into a powerful force for connection and healing. Tune in to witness the transformative power of sharing one's story and the profound impact it can have on fostering community support and finding peace.

Chuck:

One two, virginia, here to share her experience that she went through with the passing of her daughter from a horrific situation in 2018. But she also shares how she got through it here to let somebody know who's going through the same thing, that you're not alone. So, hey, you don't want to miss this conversation today. Do me a favor Go and grab your husband, your wife, your children, or even call a friend and gather around to listen to my conversation with me and Vikisha on let's Just Talk About it podcast. Hey, let's jump right in. Welcome back to another episode of let's Just Talk About it podcast. I have Miss Vikisha Smith on with us. How are you doing today?

Vikisha Smith:

I'm doing all right, and yourself.

Chuck:

Doing great, doing great. Thank you for being on. Thank you for having me, vakeesha on let's Just Talk About it podcast is a platform geared toward giving people an opportunity to share a portion of their life's journey, and I love to start off with this question when did you grow up?

Vikisha Smith:

I actually grew up in Petersburg, Virginia, in Pecan Acres, but my mom moved us to Dinwiddie County when I was going to the middle school, so I was around about what 12?

Chuck:

Okay, so you pretty much grew up in Dinwiddie. Okay, yes, so how was that for you as a kid in Dinwiddie?

Vikisha Smith:

It was okay. I live in a nice neighborhood called Central Woods. My mom bought a house. She was proud of herself. My best friend actually lived in the same neighborhood when I moved there. I grew up with her in Petersburg, in Pecan Acres, and they moved and then when we moved out there she was in the neighborhood too. So it was pretty cool. I had my friends you know, went to school with with some people, met a couple of new people, friends got you, got you.

Chuck:

What's one of your greatest childhood memories out there?

Vikisha Smith:

in central woods. Yeah, when um the girls used to race the boys, we used to run track around the big circle so we had like relay races when we were younger. We used to just be very competitive. Outside fun Kids. Don't do that now, but yeah.

Chuck:

Yeah, not at all. But, Kikisha, as I stated, let's Just Talk About it. Podcast is a platform geared towards giving you know, genuine people like yourself, an opportunity to share a piece of your life's journey. And so Keisha Cobb, who was recently a guest, introduced us to each other because she felt like you had a traumatic experience to share that could possibly help someone else get through their traumatic experience. And before this interview, we talked about. Your daughter lost her life by the negligence of a family member, you know. So I want to talk about that a little bit, because you never know who's listening, right? But first, in talking about your daughter, would you mind sharing with the listening audience what was your daughter?

Vikisha Smith:

like. She was a competitive dancer and she danced for the school marching band. She ran track, she played soccer. She did all that while working at Burger King and maintaining a 3.0 grade average. She was a child of God. She was just a loving young lady. You know, I couldn't ask for two better girls.

Chuck:

Got you, wow. What was your greatest memories about your daughter?

Vikisha Smith:

We always did everything together Got you, wow.

Chuck:

What was your greatest memories about your daughter?

Vikisha Smith:

We always did everything together, Mm tight-knit.

Chuck:

Yeah, mm.

Vikisha Smith:

She was the one that always wanted to be with me.

Chuck:

Okay.

Vikisha Smith:

So everything I did or wherever I went, she wanted to go. If she could, she went with me.

Chuck:

Wow, amazing Moving forward about your daughter. What's her name? What was her name? Her name was Keyasia Andrea Atkins. Wow, wow. So would you feel comfortable sharing what happened to your daughter with the listening audience so we can you know know what?

Vikisha Smith:

yes, no problem. Um well, it was a Monday morning, I had volunteered to go to work at a veterans facility in Richmond and um, I left around about five something in the morning because I had to be at work at seven.

Vikisha Smith:

I always try to leave a little early and I peeped in and checked in on an actual was her father or grandmother going to take her to cheer practice? Because she didn't want to drive her car? And she said she was going to call me and let me know. So I ended up leaving and I got to work a little bit before seven.

Vikisha Smith:

And I started trying to call her about 10-ish that morning when I finally got a break to see who was going to take it to cheer practice, but I never got an answer. So I kept calling and calling and I never got an answer. And then when I called again her phone went to voicemail. So I remember that my nephew was there because it was right after the Father's Day weekend, and I asked him I said, is Kiesha there? I've been trying to call her and he was like no, she left. And I'm like left with who? And he was like she left with the boy. And I'm like, well, what did he look like? And he was like I don't know what he looked like. So I'm like, well, what kind of car did he have? He was like I don't know. So to me that kind of raised suspicions because if you know she left with a boy, you got some kind of idea what he looked like his stature clothes or something, what he's driving.

Vikisha Smith:

And he said she left with a boy. So it didn't sound right to me. I got off the phone and I called her dad and I'm like, can you go to my mom's house and see if Ki-Aja there or find out what's going on? Because I've been trying to call her and I didn't get an answer. And I said my nephew told me that she left with a boy. But I know my kids, I know my daughters. When I called they answered and that's only dealing with stuff that I've been through in life. So I kind of worry a little bit. Right, he said, well, I'm going to go out there and check on her. But he waited until like two, three hours later to go see. So he eventually went out there. He talked to my nephew and my nephew told him that she left. She went to chair practice. So it didn't bother him. He figured that she already had arrived at chair practice because he knew he was going.

Vikisha Smith:

So you know, hours went on, hours went on and I kept calling and I kept calling them like I'm not getting an answer and, like I said, it raised a flag to me when they don't answer or text me back. That's right, Because they already know the rules. If I call you answer.

Chuck:

If you can't talk, text me.

Vikisha Smith:

So later on it just kept getting later and I kept calling my mom. I think I called her dad and I think I called someone else, but I can't remember who it was. But I know it wasn't like my close friends or whatever, because it really didn't dawn on me to call them. But eventually I ended up leaving work because I was working a 16 hour shift. I ended up leaving about a little after 10 o'clock at night. So I ended up going to my old neighborhood where I used to live and asked one of her cheerleader friends if she came to. Did she come to practice today? Because I knew she had practice.

Vikisha Smith:

So when the young lady told me that Keisha never showed up, they thought she had the driving range. It didn't, you know, dawn on them that she was missing. So I knew when she told me that she didn't come to cheer practice, something was wrong, because I knew she didn't have the driving range because we discussed that already. She had that that Wednesday and that Friday. So I immediately went home and I waited like till 12 o'clock because I wanted to have a 24 hour period, sort of kind of. But I didn't wait until six in the morning. I just called, at 12 o'clock.

Chuck:

Right.

Vikisha Smith:

And talked to the Dinwiddie County police and they told me that they was going to send someone out and they did and I did the report about, you know, a missing child or whatever. And they was trying to say that because it was the summer break, that she probably was out with friends and all of that. But I knew as a mother that my kid wasn't out at parties and doing things because I didn't get that information from her Right right.

Vikisha Smith:

So I knew that couldn't have been it. So it went on for days buried in a shallow grave wow.

Chuck:

So how far is that from where you live, your mom?

Vikisha Smith:

my mom, um, owns a house, like I said, in century woods so it was maybe, I think they said a thousand yards from her house, so it's like a wooded area around century woods. So she was buried on the side of the wooded area, where it's like a bunch of trees and leaves and stuff like that. So it's like it's not houses, there's just a bunch of uh, wood area so they told you they found it.

Chuck:

What was your first reaction to that?

Vikisha Smith:

well, I really can't say I had a reaction because I was still kind of shocked because she was missing right because, like I said, it was so many days and, um, I didn't know what to think. Yeah, because she was missing for so many days, I had all kinds of thoughts in my head.

Chuck:

That's what I was going to ask you. What was going through your mind those days that you didn't hear or see your daughter? That had to be kind of devastating, Like wow, where is she at?

Vikisha Smith:

I wasn't sleeping. I stayed up the entire time looking out the window, hoping she'll pull up or whatever.

Vikisha Smith:

But then I got the thinking of, like trafficking, you know, all different types of stuff, was just going through my head right. So when they came and they was going to do the search, it didn't take them long. It took them maybe like 10-15 minutes to find her because they had a cadaver dog. I was praying to God. I was like, look, I don't care how you bring her back to me, just bring her back to me wow.

Chuck:

So what made them go to your mom's house?

Vikisha Smith:

Because my nephew was there and they have where the suspect I guess is like the last person that's seen him or been around or whatever, and he had an ankle monitor on whatever tracking that they use to locate her or her phone. They use your phone to bing it and all that. Her phone never left my mom's house, so they use your phone to be in and all that. Her phone never left my mom's house. So they said she never left. So and then they had questioned, um, my nephew, and he told them, I guess, the same story that she had left, but his story wasn't adding up to you know what they seen. And then he, yeah, and he also had, took a lie detective test and he failed that, which you can't use stuff like that in court. But they knew he was lying, so his ankle monitor put him in an area where she was, where her body was found. But I'm not quite sure if that's exactly how they found him.

Vikisha Smith:

But, like I said, they had a cadaver dog and the man that had the dog said once the dog got out there, the dog ran to her immediately, but he didn't give the dog a command. So they didn't. You know, I'm not going to say pay attention. They just called the dog back. And then they told the dog to find her and he ran to the same area. But they called the dog back just again because the dog was moving so quickly.

Vikisha Smith:

So then when they pulled the dog back the dog went again. So they said, okay, something's got to be over there. So when they went over there I guess you know they have a smell or a stitch Right when they could find a corpse or a dead person, they immediately seen like her arm from under the leaves. So they noticed that it was a body. They couldn't say for sure if it was her at the time, but when they went over there they they found her and they came back into the home and was like, well, we found. They didn't say we found her, they just said we found the body. We can't say if it's her or not because, um, when they found her she had two black trash bags zip tied against her head.

Vikisha Smith:

So I don't think they removed that until they identified yeah, to identify her, but they did ask me for like identifying marks and I remember that I had just took her the month before before her birthday to get a tattoo. She wanted a torch tattoo and I got it on her upper left shoulder. And then I also remember that we went and got our nails done and I told them the color of her nail polish on her toes and her fingers. So when they came back hours later because I had to leave the home because they did like you know how they put the yellow- tape up, Yellow tape around yeah.

Vikisha Smith:

We had to leave the crime scene so they put me in a hotel. So they came back like hours later and was asking me, like the identifying marks again, and that's what I told them Wow, and then they showed me, look, a small picture of her tattoo, like just the picture of the tattoo, and I identified that. And that's when I asked them about the nail polish and that's how I got to identify her.

Chuck:

Did you like have like a feeling that that was her at the time?

Vikisha Smith:

When they told me that they found A body, mm-hmm, I kind of knew it was her because, like I said, for her to be gone so long and—.

Chuck:

And near your mother's house.

Vikisha Smith:

Yeah, and at my mom's house I kind of knew when they said we found a body. I'm like that's her, you know. Wow, because it was just so close.

Chuck:

Yeah, absolutely so, being—that's your mom's house, mm-hmm, how does your mother react to that being so near to her house? It had to be devastating, not only to you, but to her as well.

Vikisha Smith:

Yes, it really took a toll on my mom. She just cried a lot. She's not, she's not one of those parents that would express her emotions or feelings or whatever. And during that time it was so many emotions within my family that I was angry with her. And I was angry with her because his behavior was gearing up to, I guess, the act that he did, because he went off that morning on my mother's friend. But, like I said, it was so early that we had just moved back with my mom. She didn't think that she, I guess she forgot that Kiesha was still there right in the room sleeping.

Vikisha Smith:

So she just immediately moved her friend out and they left. So she left him and her there, but Kiesha was asleep and Anton was still there wow.

Chuck:

So, as I stated, that's your family member yes, that's my brother's, son wow, wow, that's. That's complicated because there has to be, like a lot of you know what I mean going a lot of animosity, being that's a family member, so it's like you have to love them at the same time because you're related to them. On the other hand, there's anger because of what he did to your daughter. How did you balance that?

Vikisha Smith:

During that time I didn't balance it because I was more angry than I was love. I was angry with him Makes sense. I was angry with my brother. I was angry with my mom, I was angry with his mom. So at that time and for the first two, three years, I was angry. It was nothing they could say or do to make me feel better because, at the end of the day, your child, regardless if he's away or not, he's still alive. My child is not and I don't know this.

Chuck:

I don't know what actually happened, because she's not here to tell to tell it what happened and I would never probably know wow, so you said for three years there was like anger and no, no communication yes, I wasn't communicating with my brother.

Vikisha Smith:

I started talking with my mom, but I was angry with her too because I felt like she could have, you know, got my daughter's attention and got her up, let her leave, get in her car and go stay with her dad If she saw this behavior in this young man. But then I realized we had just moved back and my mom was older. She probably wasn't thinking to get Keisha out of the house. She was just trying to diffuse the situation at that moment with her friend, with this young man.

Chuck:

Right, Because I guess in your mind you never think like something like that will take place. You know, yes, yeah, wow, it's been since what? 2000,. You said 18?

Vikisha Smith:

2018.

Chuck:

Wow. So how has that grieving process been like you know since then? How did you get through that?

Vikisha Smith:

First and foremost, foremost, I never lost faith in God. Um. Second, I ended up leaving my job and started traveling as a nurse, going out of the states, going to different states. Um, me and my daughter used to love to go to the beaches, so I constantly went to the beach. That was like a place of peace. I saw a psychiatrist, started seeing a psychiatrist Even when I was on the road. We did phone conversations, so a lot of that Played a part, yeah. And then I had friends that was there for me. When I wasn't In a good head space, they would be around.

Chuck:

Yeah.

Vikisha Smith:

So it took a lot, it really did, and it took patience and just took a lot it really did and it's a patience and just took a lot of time. I'm not going to say I'm completely healed. I don't think I ever will be yeah, but it just took. It just took time.

Chuck:

Wow, so you talked about therapy, and so talk to us about that process of going to therapy, because sometimes people feel like they don't need therapy to get through moments. How important has therapy been to you to navigate through it? You know what I'm saying, like how has it helped you?

Vikisha Smith:

It helped tremendously A lot of people, a lot of black people don't think therapy is good.

Vikisha Smith:

They don't want to tell people your business, but sometimes you can talk to someone you don't know is good. They don't want to tell people your business, but sometimes you can talk to someone you don't know better than you can talk to someone you do know. You can be more open and free to speak with that person and you know they're not going to judge or anything and they're getting to like the root of the problems or whatever situation you may have. And, like I say, it helped me out because even still dealing with my kids death, I still had other things that I didn't get over as a child. So it was bringing those things back up. Why, like the way I was feeling with my kids, like I didn't want them to leave without telling me stuff, why don't you know them calling me all the time, just constantly checking on them? So learning and remembering why I was like that it helped with past traumas got you.

Chuck:

Wow, you talk about past trauma. What were some of the things that going to therapy triggered that reminded you of what you were going through?

Vikisha Smith:

trusting people got you it made it more difficult and I still have that problem a little bit, um, with trusting people. Got you, it made it more difficult and I still have that problem a little bit with trusting people because, like I said with my pastor, I had problems growing up trusting people, you know, and then I didn't even think that I would have to worry about it in my own family.

Chuck:

Got you. So, yeah, trust is big. You're right, it's like once it's broken. It's like once it's broken, it's like you. You become suspicious of a lot of things, a lot of things.

Vikisha Smith:

You constantly, you know worrying, and sometimes you're worrying for nothing, but you're so used to dealing with certain things. It just triggers it right.

Chuck:

Well, isn't that crazy how we could create our own story in our heads. It is not even a reality. But because of trauma, you know, you create those scenarios in your own head and I used to do that a lot for the last couple of years it was like keisha, relax, it's not this.

Vikisha Smith:

I'm like no, it is that serious.

Chuck:

But that's me you know, we all do, and I'm working on it me, me too, we all do. We all do so. You're not by yourself, and that's the crazy thing. Sometimes we go through things and feel like we're the only ones that are that are feeling that way, and the reality of it is we're not you know we're not yeah. And the only way we don't know is because we live in a culture that we don't communicate no more. You know, we don't know.

Vikisha Smith:

And that's why I'll talk about it. Or you know certain situations, because I'd never know who else is going through that situation. They may need to hear it. And on my journey traveling throughout the united states, I've met people that, like I didn't know. You know, I I've been going through this. Or you know, learning other people's stories, and they just realize like they're not the only ones you know. So I don't know if that was my purpose to do that, but I just was being a child of God, I guess. Yeah.

Chuck:

Sharing your story. You never. I always say you never know who's listening. You never know you know who needs that story Because, like I said, we all go through similar things in life, you know. But yes sometimes we don't talk about it.

Vikisha Smith:

Yep yeah, just never know.

Chuck:

Yeah, so I know, like at the funerals, people tend to go back to work, people tend to just go back to the norm, but you are left with those emotions. Tend to just go back to the norm, but you are left with those emotions. How do you? How do you keep?

Vikisha Smith:

her memory alive today. I always try to celebrate her every day, but on her birthday I always pretty much go visit her, send her flowers, like I said, do things within that week that we would normally do. Recently, I started Key Asia's Angels, healing One Heart, at a Time where I have a dinner in the month of May Gotcha Celebrating her birthday and also celebrating it with parents and siblings that lost a child as well, regardless if it was through homicide, suicide, that we can come together and we eat and celebrate together and let people know that you're not by yourself and we're all in this together. I do that. I recently started journaling.

Vikisha Smith:

I've had a book dedicated to my daughter. It's a Bible book where when you're listening to it, it's called here's where my notes. It's a sermon notes journal book where, like saying, if you're at where, when you're listening to it, it's called His Words, my Notes. It's a sermon notes journal book where, like saying, if you're at church or you're at home and you're listening to a sermon of a pastor, you write down the notes the notes.

Vikisha Smith:

You know the chapter that he's reading from and you write down his notes and then his words and then you write down your notes of what you took from it or can relate from the sermon, and it'd be just your notes. So it's called his words, my notes. So I did that in honor of her and um last year for her, and it's dedicated to her so can people find that or?

Vikisha Smith:

yes, they can find it. It's on amazon. Yeah, it's um, you can buy it from off of Amazon. Ok, yeah, so I also have another book that's coming out in January.

Vikisha Smith:

Shout it out. It's a vision board book and that's the name of it and it's like you know when you do a poster of your vision of your future, what you're planning. It has pages where you can put your pictures and things in. It has pages where you can put your pictures and things in. It also has like a section of prayers and notes, diet and exercise, you know daily task stuff that you're planning on, working on. So that book is coming out in January.

Vikisha Smith:

But, I've been doing this type of stuff just to have a sense of peace and it helps me with my healing and I love to write, so eventually I will end up writing a book about my story. Wow on my life, but I'm just taking like baby steps to get there that would be amazing it's something um how from our pain in life that purpose comes from it.

Chuck:

You know what I mean. Like you, you find something that not only helps you, but helps somebody else.

Vikisha Smith:

Yes.

Chuck:

You know, true? Wow, I hate for it to be like that, but that's how it goes sometimes. That's how it is.

Vikisha Smith:

Maybe my purpose, I don't, you know, don't know. But like I said, I feel like I'm helping people sometimes when I do talk about it.

Chuck:

Yeah, like now you're going, I do talk about it. Yeah, like now you're going to help somebody. Yeah, yeah, what would you say to a parent who's going through the same situation you've experienced with your child? What would you say to them? Because you're going to help a lot of people, but what?

Vikisha Smith:

would you say to them if you was approached by somebody who heard your story and they just want to talk to you one-on-one? I just have to let them know that it gets better. I mean, it gets better, it gets easier. But you do have to take it one day at a time and it's not going to happen overnight. You know, the grieving process can be kind of tricky, because one day you're feeling happy, the next day you're angry. So you know you just have people around you that support you and, like I said, you know talk to a therapist as well. But my biggest thing is within our community, especially the black community't do anything about it. They're eventually going to do something that they shouldn't do. Put it that way because you know it steps to that They'll trigger like isolation.

Vikisha Smith:

Yeah, you want them to get some. You will want to get some kind of help and not just let them go without any medication or some type of treatment. Because if they do you know I've worked in mental health those behaviors can cause death or you can seriously hurt someone and being in denial, you know you're hurting that person as well, the community, the society, because you don't want to talk about mental illness, you don't want it to be in your family. People try to hide certain things, those things you don't want to hide. They have medication, they have treatment to help people with those type of mental illnesses, and going without the treatment could cause, like I said, danger to someone else or even that person, because not everybody knows how a person is when they're mentally ill.

Chuck:

So glad you said that you work in the mental health field. So for people who don't know they have children they see their kids every day, you know or husband or wife, spouse, whatever. What are some signs to be aware of that a person is going through some type of depression or stress. You know what I'm saying.

Vikisha Smith:

You know, with depression and stress, you know, a lot of people tend to isolate themselves, stay away from people. Their eating habits change, the weight gain or loss change, you know, harming themselves or animals or someone else. Little, small things.

Chuck:

Right.

Vikisha Smith:

You just pay attention to things. That that's not normal and we would say that's not normal it's abnormal yeah it's very abnormal.

Vikisha Smith:

You know any little things, behavior changes in school or at work, um constantly talking about dying or hurting someone or their behaviors. They're hurting people, but it's starting to get it to the extreme where they eventually kill someone. So you have to pay attention to the clues, especially, you know, learn your kids or your family members, their behaviors, because it you they do have signs you can't see and, like I said, some of you be in denial got you that they don't want to believe that their child or that their loved one has this.

Chuck:

But or even personally. You know personally, yeah, or even personally.

Vikisha Smith:

You know Personally, yeah, they feel like it's a shame to be a certain type of way, but you can't help how God created us, and they have medicines for those type of things.

Chuck:

Wow. Famous quote I've heard is it's okay not to be okay. Sometimes, you know.

Vikisha Smith:

It is yeah, because we're not going to wake up every day okay, nope, we're not going gonna wake up every day.

Chuck:

No, okay, no, we're not gonna wake up every day happy, it'd be nice, but that's not a reality.

Vikisha Smith:

Nope, it's not a reality, and I feel like if you gotta cry, cry, help. Sometimes it makes it even better when you do release those tears instead of holding them in.

Chuck:

So and sometimes being mad is not a bad thing, but it's how you control that emotion yes, yes, because, lord jesus, it took some time and patience with that that's deep. Um, here's a question for you. If you could send a message to your daughter, what would you say to her?

Vikisha Smith:

First I would let her know that I love her. Of course I know she knows that I always said I'll tell her. I'm sorry, I wish I was there. And I want to let her know that I'll keep living for her because, like I said, she was a free spirit, so I was more so into my kids than myself. So I find myself doing more adventurous things now that I have free time so, and I know she be proud of me.

Vikisha Smith:

But yeah I let her know that I love her and I'm sorry I couldn't be there. Um yeah, wow.

Chuck:

So what do you do? Go skydiving, what do you do? Jump off?

Vikisha Smith:

I want to do that, I want to do that, but I can't find anybody to do it. They were like you know, you do it. I'm like oh, gotta try it. But I did jump off cliffs and stuff when I went to Jamaica Like I've been doing crazy stuff, like stuff you wouldn't normally do You're reserved? I was so reserved. I'm not reserved now, I'm just trying it all. I'm like hey, I'm not promised tomorrow, so you can say I was happy, I was living my life.

Vikisha Smith:

Like I said, I traveled the US. I traveled by myself.

Chuck:

Okay.

Vikisha Smith:

It was just me and God. They was like you ain't no weapon, Nope, don't need one. I got the word I'm good and I got there and back home safe, no problem, just fun, Just you decided to have fun. You decided to have fun.

Chuck:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a big thing too, laughing.

Vikisha Smith:

Yeah.

Chuck:

And I try to be around people.

Vikisha Smith:

That's positive, that's laughing, that has good spirit. You know they want to do something in life, Right? So that's what I've been doing.

Chuck:

That's amazing. That is amazing. Shout out to you, shout out to you, thank you, yeah. Last question what gives?

Vikisha Smith:

you hope, what gives you strength to keep moving forward every day that you put your feet on the floor, that one day, when I get called home, that I'll see her again, and my father and my son, you know so, if I live right on this earth, I'll get there and I'll see them again.

Chuck:

So I love that.

Vikisha Smith:

That gives me strength, like stay on a positive track.

Chuck:

You'll see him again.

Vikisha Smith:

I'll see him again, man, but until then, enjoy life. Enjoy life.

Chuck:

Now, yeah, I like that. What advice did you want to leave with the listening audience or encouragement you want to leave before we close out?

Vikisha Smith:

Um, I just want people to know that they're not alone. Um, find someone that you can talk to, especially a therapist. I mean, there's nothing wrong with talking to someone a therapist about your problems. Um, as far as the mental health part, don't't be ashamed, it's all over. People have mental illnesses. Just get them help, get them treated. It possibly could save someone's life and in the meantime, if you're going through these things, try to enjoy life and have positive people around you.

Chuck:

That's a big one. Support positive people yeah, I appreciate you. Thank you for being one. Support positive people yeah, I appreciate you. Thank you for being on.

Vikisha Smith:

Thank you for having me.

Chuck:

I enjoyed the conversation. Your words of wisdom, I really appreciate that.

Vikisha Smith:

Thank you.

Chuck:

Yep. So thanks again for being a part of let's Just Talk About it podcast. Wow, what an amazing conversation. Shout out to you, vakeesha, for having this dialogue with me, and thank you for having the courage to share your journey of healing to help others realize that they are not alone. We really appreciate you, and I also want to thank everyone for always tuning in to let's Just Talk About it podcast and if you have any media needs, such as videography and photography, you can reach out to me and my business partner Low Mills at M&B Media on Facebook. Hey, so, as always, until next time, don't hold it in, but let's just talk about it. Talk to you soon. 1.