Peace and Light Lovies!!

During this time of hustling around preparing for the holidays - spending money and planning to get all my little chick-a-dees to the dinner table for Christmas, hubby and I took time out to go and visit a dear friend.

Pulling into the driveway, we admired the Christmas decor which was a complex combination of classy greens, reds, golds with a strong afro-centric presence. We rang the doorbell and our friend greeted us with a huge smile and hugs with his frail arms. I was shocked and shaken by his obvious dramatic weight loss and immediately became concerned that our visit may be too much for him. So, being the planner-ahead that I am, I quickly started to think of how to shorten the visit so not to over exasperate our beloved friend. Then a funny thing happened, I looked into his face and the light that radiated from his eyes and smile melted away all of the anxiety I felt at that moment.

When I saw this picture on another blog, I stopped and stared at it for the longest time.

When I look at this picture, I think WOW what a beautiful picture. Then, I start to think back on all the things that I've tried to teach her. This beautiful princess, DIT (Diva in Training), Queen to be is my only daughter. She's a freshman in college, smart, gifted and talented. She is as much like me as she is NOT like me.

Today is my 24th Wedding Anniversary.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

October 12, 1985
When I think back and remember that I was 21 and he was 25 - I remember two grown kids who had NO CLUE what they were getting into. Had no idea that God would give them 4 musicians to raise and knit them together so close as man and wife that you would have a hard time throwing a feather between them.

FAST FORWARD 24 YEARS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

We had a long competition weekend with our youngest son and today we spent our anniversary day recuperating. My hubby woke me up this morning telling me to get whatever I wanted from the grocery store and HE would cook it for my special anniversary dinner. So, this evening, I had a wonderful veggie stir-fry with white wine. But, most importantly, I was reminded of how fortunate I am to have shared this many years with the same man. Not just the same man, but one who has been intent on letting me be me and giving lots of encouragement, friendship, comfort, laughter and love on this marital journey. To have a husband who is also your best friend is a major blessing.

Wait on him and he will surely come.

Peace Sisters!!

To all my married, getting ready to marry, thinkin' bout marriage sistahs.......let's vibe for a minute:

Because the peace of my afternoon was interrupted by my young sistah-girl who needed some wisdom about her husband, I feel obligated to share some marital 411.

We all have a purpose - a reason why we were planted here, in this time and space. The trick is to find out what is is, connect with it and stay focused on it. When you marry, or fall in to a long term relationship you run the risk of totally losing yourself to the everyday demands of wifey-hood, motherhood and relationship-hood. That loss of self breeds resentment toward your mate (sometimes your children), and a loss of self worth among other things. Your own self worth is key to being able to function on a daily basis and it is the very essence of your own ability to give and receive love.

I struggle today to make peace with things happening around me - things that I have no control over, wouldn't want to have the power to control, but yet, these things are still the source of my lament today.

We all have had to take our time to come to grips with the sudden death of Michael Jackson. Most of us remember the bright eyed innocent wonder with the wide brimmed purple hat aced/deuced to one side mesmerizing us with his vocals on the Ed Sullivan Show back in the 70's. Some of us hold fondly to the memories of him amazing us by moon-walking into his destiny in 1995. Whatever your memory of him is, hold to the positive and not the negatives that will surely surface - because as we know every fool on the planet has something to say about someone who's dead and can no longer defend himself.

Greetings family.

Since mid-August, I have been making and drinking green smoothies at least once a day. Now, to be honest, there have been some times when I skipped a day or two. Needless to say, I PAID for it dearly. I went through a 1 week stretch where I really fell off the wagon (so to speak). At the end of that 7-day stretch, I was feeling like crap and when I sat down and made a list of the things I had been eating, I was shocked at the utter trash and nonsense that I had put in my body. Believe me when I say, my body didn't like it either. So, I quickly returned to my smoothies and I had to add in yogi tea to help cleans my body of all the junk that I had consumed. Since the start of this journey back in August, I am 15 pounds lighter, my skin is less oily, my thoughts are much more positive, a lot of my cravings have stopped. Of course my husband and kids think I am drinking cups of green slime every day - I simply told them "Laugh all you want, but I have lost 15 pounds and I feel GREAT".

Good Morning Lovlies!

I am a 44 year old married mother of 4. My parents are very much alive and an intricate part of my life. I've never had to worry much about them and that's always pretty cool. Years ago, when I started dating my husband, I knew that the care of his father would be a major part of our relationship and my life. My husband was born to older parents so his father was the same age as my grandmother. Long story short, for many years, I couldn't plan anything without taking into consideration who was going to look in on my father-in-law and/or take him where he needed to go. I can truly say, I handled my daughter-in-law role with love, charm and integrity. It was easy because he and I got along very well and I knew that helping my husband take care of him was the right thing to do and when he died, the loss of him was deeply felt my every member of my family.
My own parents have always enjoyed pretty good health, they have always been active, traveling, etc. When hubby, kids and I relocated, my mother was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes shortly after and that began the long change that has now taken place.