So here's the story... and you really want to hear the story...

So everyone wants to know where I am and what I'm up to. Where I am and what I'm up to is being in a state of bliss and it's rather crazy. I use that word a lot these days; crazy. I laugh a hell of a lot these days. My heart is beating stronger and with much more purpose these days.

I've reclaimed my life and the love of my life. They're kinda the same thing actually.



But what's crazy is the story. You gotta hear the story.
Right now, when people see me and the love of my life walking hand in hand down the street, they smile at us because we're smiling. We get asked often how long we've been together.

We answer together:

"Well, this time only a few months."

"But we're really high school sweethearts."

The usual response is, "What!?!" "Are you serious?" or something similar to disbelief.

He likes to tell the story and I like how his face softens when he tells the story (his very good friend has observed it too and hence joked him and coined the phrase "long-blinks"), so I let him tell the story:

"We met in high school. We were going to different schools but had friends at the same school. Anyway, I went to all her dances with her. We even went to her prom together. But then after high school we were apart for more than 10 years. I was in New York and DC and Japan and she was in Los Angeles and The Bahamas, but we always stayed friends and kept in touch no matter what."

And it's crazy, he usually doesn't have to go any further. The way he looks at me, touches me, 'long blinks' and tells the story, folks just can't help but see a man truly in love and they just,

"AAAWWWW!!" "Look at how cute y'all are!" "Look at this man!" And they often have questions. They want to know about us, if we're really as in love as we look, what we do for a living, whatever.

All he does is talk about me, and I talk about him. I'm so proud of him, the person that he's become and the person that I know he will be. He tells the world the same about me, and he says he still has years to catch up on.

In restaurants, markets, coffee shops, on the street, people ask about us and are genuinely amazed. It's crazy!

Our old friends are shocked in the best ways. "How the hell did you find your ways back to each other!?!" "We didn't even know you two were back in the country!" And we have to humbly say we just love, "You look so good and happy together!"

And damn we really, truly are.

We are so in love we're anti-social (sorry to all my local peeps, it happens ya know) but we have the greatest adventures out together. We bought a bow off a dude on the street and got some arrows from his friend that same night, took them to the park and practiced our archery. We've since invested in our purchase and decided to make it a hobby (we look sexy with the bow).




I got to watch him rock the runway in front of hundreds of people in a high end boutique fashion show.



He met my favorite aunt who called him a fine, young man and gave him the ok. Hell, today we rode in drift cars around a speedway and it was the fastest time I've ever had in a car and AWESOME!!





If you are not familiar with the concept of drift racing, check the Wiki here and our YouTube video here. It's extremely dangerous, but extremely fun (when done by professionals, kids DO NOT TRY THIS WITH YOUR PARENTS CAR!!).

Even a spring nature hike is a wondrous event with him. He picks me Forget-Me-Nots and takes my picture while we sit on the rocks overlooking the lake at sunset. He brings spectacular moments to every second so that's miraculous in-and-of-itself.

He makes it very easy to answer one question. "Why did you leave the Bahamas to come back to Baltimore!?!"

I can look at my wonderful, 'long-blinking', loving, supportive, baby and say without a fragment of a doubt, "I came to be with him." This is the most right decision I have ever made in my life, I came to be with him.

So that's the story. That's where I am and what's going on with me. I'm blissful beyond anything I've ever imagined and I'm in another state of being. We're working together, living together, creating together, loving together. We're together and we're happy. It's very important to both of us and it consumes a great deal of our time and energy and we like it that way, so really pardon us if you happen to be amongst the people neglected because of our newly reclaimed relationship.

But don't you think it's for a good cause now that you know the story?

INSPI(RED) - JOIN (RED)!!

Buy a sexy RED product, save some lives! It doesn't get much easier or more beautiful than that!

RED has never looked better!! Motorola, Gap, and Armani are amongst some of the fabulous retailers that have joined forces with Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Performer Bono and Bobby Shriver to launch the massive (PRODUCT) RED campaign to raise funds to fight AIDS and other diseases in Africa.

(BLOG) RED
(RED) was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA, to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund by teaming up with the world's most iconic brands to produce (PRODUCT) RED-branded products. A percentage of each (PRODUCT) RED product sold is given to The Global Fund. The money helps women and children with HIV/AIDS in Africa.

www.joinred.com

My Name Is....

I really dig the show "My Name is Earl". If you've never seen it, this dude Earl was a horrible person; lied, cheated, stole from his fellow man for years. Then as soon as he hit the lottery and thought he was going to be living in the big time, he was hit by a car leaving the store. Karma.

So he made a list of all the horrible things he could remember doing to people and is going around trying to undo them. Kinda like step 9 on the 12 step deal (I've never done the 12 steps myself I've just been a lots of peoples' 'step 9') only funnier.

It's inbred, country, and funny as hell (kinda like that side of my family
we don't talk about), but it actually has a pretty good message to it. Basically, karma. What you put into the world comes back to you, whether you like it or not.


Karma.

Have you ever noticed that when someone is feeling the results of their own bad karma "Karma is a bitch!" I've thought that myself a few times, usually in times of self-inflicted suffering and denial. I'm hearing similar
grumblings from the people I know, near and far, mostly things like "What did I do to deserve this!?!" and "Why me!?!" which loosely translates into "Karma is a summuma-bitch!!"

The problem is that when the universe whispers back, "It's just a little karma baby, no biggie," they plug their ears with their fingers like rotten children and chant, "La-la-la-la, I can't hear you, la-la-la-la!" For some reason these sad folks would rather believe that they are doomed, cursed, and otherwised jinxed and the world has it in for them for some reason. This grandiose sense of martyrdom seems much more reasonable than maybe, just maybe, taking a moment to just check themselves and make some minor corrections.

And there's the kick in the ass! Karma makes you check yourself and usually correct yourself, and that's way too much for many. Because correcting means admitting "I was wrong," and we all know how much fun that is.

And if you haven't done wrong and are just truly in a genuinely bad place due to circumstance, then taking stock will usually bring to light the parts of your life that are still intact and motivating, loving and supporting; and that's a wonderful experience to have as well.

I think anyone who is having their own "Woe is me, the world it against me!" moment needs to start living like "Their Name is Earl". Take HONEST stock of who you are, where you are, and what you've done to get there. And I mean honest; there is hardly a faultless, blameless soul among us. Be accountable for your prior and current actions and your reactions and maybe life will show you exactly how to take the next
action out of your current funk.

And if you're doing wrong and you know you are doing wrong, get over yourself, suck it up, and realize Karma is gonna bitch slap you until you make another choice, and Karma has a heavy hand.

Personally, "My Name is Rashida" and me and my Karma are damn good friends and I'd like to keep it that way.

Good Ol' Sunshine

Today I don't want to share anything but some good Sunshine. Here's Raul Midon with some of the best I've experienced in ages. Bask in it, why don't you.




"When you're with me I can fly..."

For your extended viewing pleasure....

Make A Move Music Video::SuckaForLife.com

From the slick, savvy, olde skool soul of the 'sucka for life' herself, Hanifah Walidah, comes the equally slick, savvy and rapturously olde skool soul of the "Make a Move Music Video"!





Take pause and check the one true Sucka for Life, Hanifah Walidah on MySpace, and dig on the Make A Move documentary ("Keep It Movin'"), due out for the holidays; features the behind the scene discussions, intimate moments, background information, and the undocumented history of black lesbian "House Party" culture. To find out more about Keep It Movin' and how you can support in its completion, click here.

See previous post: Octavia Butler Tribute Video::Thanks Hanifah