Brilliant Blogger Birthday on BLAST!!!

See, it wasn't sposed to be like this.

This is the reward I get for working for THE MAN. He's got this sista jet-setting across the square states of the continental U.S. to the extent that I don't know which way is up or what day or time it is. "DOWN WITH THE MAN!", I say; down with his azz!

ANTYWAY....what was sposed to happen was this....

Thursday, my favorite blogger Ladylee that prolific Old Girl was supposed to wake up early like I imagine an overachiever such as she always does, thumb her nose at her gubment job and THE MAN who typically believes he has rights to her time on weekdays between the hours of o-dark-thirty and 0-dark-thirty, make herself something absolutely scrumptious for breakfast, then at her leisure, sit herself down in front of her beloved computer and check out her regular blog reads like she does every morning. Upon stumbling across this particular blog (one my sitemeter indicates she stumbles upon every morning so "No, I am not being conceited!"), she was to be pleasantly surprised and quite amused to find she was the featured topic of discussion!

"But Noooooooooooooooooooo!", THE MAN wasn't having that ish and kept me away from my computer until today!

Antyway....this is what that infamous OG was sposed to find here on Thursday if things had happened like they were sposed to happen --

Sometimes in life you meet people so casually and nonchalantly that at the time you don't pay too much attention because at the time, you don't realize how important a part of your life that particular person is going to become. Because of the fact that whoever that person is entered into your reality without ceremony, so quietly in fact that maybe you didn't even notice at the time, you don't mark the moment and years later, you are lucky if you can even remember when it was that that particular person first entered your life. To a large extent, this is the situation I find to be true of how I met my Best Blogger Friend Forever (BBFF) that infamous Old Girl, Ladylee!

Fortunately, I am able to pinpoint the moment we actually met not because it was marked by a lot of noise or pomp and circumstance, but quite the contrary, because it was not. We met while taking a writing/getting published seminar during the annual Black Book Club Conference convention held in Atlanta in August 2005. Most of you have heard the story of how I showed up late, confused, and flustered and after receiving the Forest Gump "seats taken" treatment from four or five folk in the room, I heard the sweetest most gentlest voice ever say "you can sit here" and thereby, I found my own Jenny (in a manner of speaking ;). In the span of an hour's time, Ladylee rescued this sista three different times first offering the seat, then a pen, and finally offering to send me a book on writing more descriptively which showed up at my house within a few weeks of that initial meeting as promised.

Even still, I did not at the time realize what a pivotal meeting this was for my life.

Shortly thereafter, I decided to start this blog. I chose a layout, a title, and sat down to write my very first post after which I decided to bump around the net checking out what other folk were doing on their blogs. It was around this time that the book arrived and in an email I sent to my girl to say thank you, I included the URL for this blog. She answered that email with one that included the URL to her blog which you can find here. Prior to that moment, I had no idea that she even had a blog so immediately, I went there to find out what was going on. Her blog set the standard for what I wanted this one to be. It was amusing, funny, vibrant, and innovative in that it was never predictable and was always filled with pictures. It also was representative of a person who was wise and had a deep understanding of people and the things that motivate them. Using multiple forms of media from music and videos to cartoon graphics from the old Schoolhouse Rock series on TV, Ladylee's blog created some of the best stories I've ever been told. From her description of characters like Mayor Snake to her Birthday blasts like the one she did on me here, visiting her blog is like a "box of chocolates" in that you never know what you're gonna get (okay, okay, that is the last Forest analogy!).

Visiting her blog had huge benefits for me in another important way as once again my favorite OG rescued me by helping me to develop my very first regular readers. I found that everytime I left a comment at her spot, someone would end up following the links to my profile and end up here. See how this little insignificant relationship is getting tangled all up in my life!

Well it didn't stop there. Over the years since we've met, we have sent our attempts at writing back and forth for the other to critique, become friends in the "real world" via email and telephone, and ranted to each other over ish that trips us both out. Back in June 2006, I was all 'cited, cause as a consequence of THE MAN sending me to Atlanta on bizness, it appeared that I was finally going to get to hang out with, and might possibly even get to visit the inner-sanctum of my hero the infamous OG Ladylee, but alas, it was not to be. Ms. Just Write Now got down to the ATL and was anything but alright. I developed the sinus infection/summer cold from hell, and what do you think ended up happening? Da-da-da-DUUUUUUUUM!

That superhero Ladylee strapped on her cape, flew over to the Whole Foods Market and brought this sista chicken noodle soup, fruit, juices, and everything else necessary to scare away pesky lil' infectious organisms. This for me is the very definition of love, and I wrote as much in this post I wrote at that time.

In the last year, this friendship that when it began I barely even noticed has rescued me time and time again so much so that I've written posts about how I relied on my BBFF and her blog to remind me over the last year who I am and of what I am made. Once again, I am so grateful that someone or something (i.e. GOD or whatever spiritual being it is that you believe manages the universe) other than me is in charge because I might not have noticed one of the best gifts I've ever received. A review of the 3 or 4 Birthday Blasts I've written over the years on this blog will demonstrate a common theme, I am always discovering that on the birthdays of those I love most, I seem to get the best gifts and it has happened yet again.

So if you haven't gifted yourself by checking out my BBFF's blog, you should do so immediately and regularly thereafter because you don't know what you are missing. I have been blessed yet again in ways I am sure I don't deserve to be, and as unnoticed or insignificant as that initial meeting might have seemed, I want it to be known that I am aware of the blessing now and it will never be unnoticed again!

HAPPY (belated ;) BIRTHDAY LADYLEE

AND THANK YOU FOR BEING SUCH A GREAT GIFT TO ME!