83 Days Between Now and the Start of Mommyhood: Part Two

So I'm sure most of you who frequent that Original Oldgirl Ladylee's blog have figured out by now that Ms. Just Write Now is going to be a Mommy all over again in just a few short months! For those of you who were not aware, I'm here to say that Yes! It is true and I could not be happier about it.


I am beginning a whole new life and the most amazing thing about it all was that I saw none of it heading my way before it landed literally in my lap.

As I started to say back in March (when I left many of you hanging so unceremoniously...I apologize but there were good reasons for that) it all started with the picture in the last post. While trying to delete a profile the PO had used to communicate with me on a social networking site, I was sent the previously mentioned photo. I don't know what it was, but something about the photo spoke to me and though I had never before responded to an online request to communicate with someone I didn't either already know or minimally been exposed to through someone I knew, I decided to respond. In a very short period of time, I found myself completely enchanted by this soldier who at the time was stationed in Iraq.

In a very short time, we were communicating regularly and extensively first via the social website, then via email, and finally through Yahoo chat. Our chats lasted for hours on end (one of the reasons I was MIA around here so much....sorry ;), and our ability to communicate was so easy and natural that I knew before ever meeting in person that this individual would be a pivotal relationship in my life. From the very start, there was an ease in our ability to chat and a natural honesty in every exchange we shared. As I became more comfortable (because as many of you know, I tend to be somewhat paranoid about my personal safety when it comes to the internet), we finally moved to phone calls.

By nature a person who puts a lot of emphasis on her auditory sense, as I awaited that first phone call from Iraq, I prayed that his voice would be pleasing to my ear. I was NOT disappointed by what I heard and sometime during that very first phone call I knew I was speaking with my personal destiny.

From there, things progressed and we became closer and closer with both of us realizing even before meeting that we were in love with each other....at least on an emotional/spiritual/mental level and all that remained was to meet in person once he returned from Iraq to determine if the connection we felt would translate into the physical realm.

Well, we did meet and in answer to that particular query, I'll say this..."Today, I am six months, two weeks pregnant with our son!" His third and my second, bringing us to a grand total of 4 sons between us!

So, at this point what I can tell you is that all is great and with all the changes my life is what I think of as a compilation of moving parts. Right now the plan is for me to move to the New Orleans (where he is currently stationed) late this summer / early this fall once the baby arrives (due date: September 28th). I am currently in the process of pursuing a new job with my current company that will allow me to transfer to the NOLA region. This process should be completed by September 1st according to the current timelines. I am also trying to get Ryan (my 19 year old son who will be heading into his Sophomore year of college next month) situated in his own apartment as he does not wish to move to NOLA with us. Simultaneously, I am in the process of sorting out my house and trying to determine what to keep and what to eliminate before the move.

Like I said, my life is ALL MOVING PARTS right now but you know what, I could not be happier or more excited about how very unpredictable it all is!

GABBY'S NEW COUSIN IS COMING SOON....SO STICK AROUND!

She Was Gone.....

until one day, out of the blue and just like that she was back! Hello all you loves of my life! I'm back and to all those who let me know I was missed "Thank you so much for letting me know I am loved!" To those who missed me in silence, I know you all love me too! To all of you, I apologize for staying away so terribly long this time but believe me when I tell you that my life has been absolutely unbelievable in the time I have been away. So much has happened that I don't know where to begin telling the story. Should I go back to last fall when it all began or should I start today when things are so wonderfully and amazingly beautiful I can't begin to make you all understand how happy I am?!!!!

You all have "heard" me say time and again how dramatically a life can change in a year....525600 minutes. Well believe me when I tell you that the life I'm living today, March 31st 2009 is a work of art that I could never have conceived could ever exist 525600 minutes ago! Where do I begin?

I guess the best thing to do is to begin at the beginning so I guess that's what I'll do.....

It all started with this picture.

LIVING HISTORY

In a world where one dream was an impossibility:

Another more world-altering dream came true....

CONGRATULATIONS

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA,

MAY YOU BE BLESSED AS YOU HAVE BLESSED US.

I Heart Colin Powell and Yes, One Day A Muslim Can Be President Of The United States Of America....I Hope....

Need anyone say more?....

Now Y'all Know I Ain't No Hillary Fan But...

I gotta give the sister her props; she DID THE DAYUM THANG!

I'm not gonna rehash the entire speech, but a few things resonated with THIS OBAMA SUPPORTER. Wanna know what they were? Here they go....

First of all, I for one have never seen Hillary deliver a speech as smoothly and as brilliantly as her delivery was tonight. She looked relaxed, she looked composed, and most surprising of all for me, she looked AND sounded SINCERE! Well I'll be dayumed....who woulda expected that?!

The speech writer deserves a huge bonus because he/she helped Hillary redeem herself and her political viability in my eyes. Never one who supported Hillary as a potential VP, I found myself wondering "Why didn't Obama choose her again?" [Of course the answer to that is that Obama likes living!] Anyway, the speech had several classic lines which I will paraphrase (as I don't want to pretend to have them down verbatim):

- My mother was born before women received the right to vote and my daughter got to vote for her mother for President....that is the story of America! (see YouTube #3)

That line gave a family woman / history student like me goose bumps.

- No way, No how, No McCain! (see YouTube #1)

Of course this battle cry will become part of the campaign from here on out.

- ....we don't need four more years of the last eight years... (see YouTube #3)

Love it, love it, love it! Give that speech writer a big bonus check

- Next week George Bush and McCain will be in the Twin Cities which is good because its awfully hard to tell the two apart. (see YouTube #3)

The networks love this one and I am sure will slice and dice it so thinly that we will all wish it never existed.

- The ENTIRE "Keep going!" segment. (see YouTube #3)

Come on now, y'all know she had y'all as soon as she started quoting Sistah Harriet Tubman!

Yeah, as much as I hate to admit it, I gotta cut old gurl some slack and give her some props for delivering for my candidate in a big way. Of course the pundits [particularly those of the Republican persuasion] are picking the speech apart and trying to put forward the notion that she still did not address Obama's lack of experience or readiness to deal with the 3am phone call. Whatevah! She said the only thing she really needed to say when she asked her supporters if they were in this for her or if they were in this for all of the people (the mother with cancer who adopted 2 autistic children and has no insurance, the marine, etc.) who need a change in the White House. She then followed up with the statement that her supporters should re-think their positions before voting and ended by announces that SHE WAS VOTING FOR BARACK OBAMA! (see YouTube #2)







The last thing I wanted to mention before I'm out, was the sister who was a staunch Hillary supporter who was interviewed by a CNN correspondent following Hill's speech. I tried to find a video clip of the interview, because this sistah had most certainly lost her natural born mind! She was on the verge of a mental breakdown because Hillary lost the bid for the White House. Girlfriend was all crying over the spilled milk and I for one wanted to reach out and touch her....not in a good way! She irked me from the start, but when she got to talking about how she didn't know if she would be able to vote for Obama [though she would NOT be voting for McCain, she might just have to "not vote". She claimed to understand the sacrifices made to deliver the right to vote to folks like her and me but she was still entertaining the notion of NOT VOTING. I could barely take it, and was so happy to see her interview end. I don't care who a person decides to vote for but once the candidate you support is out of the running, either research the remaining candidates and choose the one who's policies are more closely aligned with your perspective or write in a candidate; whatever you do, please don't give up your right by default!

I'm not a declared Democrat though I will be voting for Mr. Obama in November. However, in the words of James Carville who I love AND love to hate, this was a very good night for Democrats. It was also a very good night for me!

Countdowns

Right now, my life seems to be all about waiting. Waiting for things to happen. Now mind you, the things I am waiting for are all great things, but still, waiting is waiting is waiting and I have never been a fan of the activity.

As those of you who come here regularly already know, the love of my life graduated high school earlier this summer. No, I am not a cradle-robber....well, technically I have been before and might be again but that's a story for another post (LOL!). No, for those of you just crawling out of your caves, the love of my life thus far is my son Ryan.

Ryan will be leaving for his freshman year at college this month. The countdown has begun, leaving just ten (10) short days between now and the beginning of his real life on August 13th 2008; a life in which the metaphysical unbilical cord that has kept us connected for the past almost 19 years will finally be severed for all time, propelling him into a separate and independent future all his own.

I'm holding up pretty well all things considered. After all, Ryan is my only biological child though my other son, Tony holds as definitive a place in my heart as does Ryan. Thanks to Tony, ( the only child of my ex-ex-ex fiance (a.k.a. Triple-X), yes, we were engaged THREE times ;) I have experience at this "send your son to college thing", and I know I can do it. That doesn't change the fact that it will be completely surreal getting used to the idea of my baby MAN not coming home every night.

I find myself wondering how long it will take before I can sleep through the night without activating my "mother hearing" to listen for the door opening and closing letting me know that Ryan is safe and sound in his mother's home.

I know without a doubt that some things I'll never get used to....like not having my 265 pound, 6 foot two inch baby MAN crawl up into the other side of the King-sized bed in which I sleep to tell me about his Saturday night escapades once he wakes up on Sunday mornings after having just found his way home a few short hours before. Without question, I know I will miss for an eternity the times when he and I sit for hours on quiet rainy or snowy weekends alternating between sleep and watching / dissing each other's taste in TV and movies until by some act of supreme will we find something on the boob-tube that suits both of our tastes. Most of all, I know there will never come a day that I will get used to entire days in which my amazing baby MAN does not knock on my bedroom door to ask if I will be disturbed by his playing the piano. I have long been amazed that he could ever believe the sound of him playing the piano could ever disturb me when next to his childhood giggle, it is the most awesome sound I've ever heard. Wanna hear it, here it go...


Ryan playing one of his original compositions

How am I ever supposed to get used to not hearing that wonderful sound around the house everyday? My son is a veritable genious and if you don't believe me, know this, he composed that piece he was playing AND taught himself to play the piano by ear AND DOES NOT READ MUSIC EVEN NOW! It is only one of his multiple talents, and I am constantly trying to figure out from where does he get this seemingly bottomless pool he possesses that is the source from which all of these amazing artistic talents spring?

Well, the countdown clock is ticking away, and in less than two weeks the love of my life and I will trail each other in separate cars to Illinois where I will help him to get situated in his dorm room with his new room mate. Then we will hit up the local Wally World to get the knicks and the knacks that will turn his new space into a surrogate for home. Finally, I'll stock him up on all his favorite "dorm-appropriate" foods and take he and his roomie out for dinner and then with as much decorum and composure as I can muster, I will turn my physical back and walk away from my baby MAN without looking back....though ONLY my physical back will be turned and a single, solitary wimper or snap of my baby MAN's fingers will bring me back to him in a flash because as I hope all y'all already know, THAT'S JUST WHAT GOOD MAMAS DO!!!

The other major event that I am waiting for is not scheduled to happen until November 21st, 2008. That is the day that me and 30 or so of my beloved friends and family members [including my amazing baby MAN] set off on the vacation of a lifetime. Do you know how many days there are between then and now? Wanna know? Now you do....

MySpace Countdown ClocksMan, can somebody please help me get through all of this waiting?! :-)

The World Just Keeps On Spinning....

I know it has been awhile since you all have heard from me, and all I can say about that is "I'm just happy I'm here!".

That seems to have become a litany with me over the last few weeks as the world has swirled around me so fast over the last couple of weeks that it has been all I could do to just hang on. It started with my job.

In late May, it was announced that my company would undertake a head-count reduction in order to save money. In order to reach their savings goal, a 10% global workforce reduction was announced for sometime in July. Now your girl here has been in this industry for 12+ years, and is no stranger to "head-count reductions" having been faced with six such situations prior to this announcement. Therein lay the source of my own particular stress. As conceited as I can be sometimes, I have always been acutely conscious of this one fact:

As special as I am, I AM NOT SPECIAL AT ALL!!!

and knowing this as I do, I was quite sure that it was time for my number to come up [as it always does, unless that is, it is the number to the winning POWERBALL Lottery ticket and then I know I can forget about it!]. Anyway, I was convinced that I would be one of the individuals whose life would be changed by the downsizing and thus was preparing myself for the possiblity of a return to my former career as a pharmacist; an eventuality that though tolerable is not one that I would preferentially choose.

On Friday, July 11th, we were asked to remain at home and to await a phone call that would let us know our fate with the company. I SURVIVED. All I can say is that it seems I may be living right and for that I am very grateful.

As harsh as that scenario was to live through (AGAIN), I must add that my company made me proud to work there as they have been more generous than any of us ever expected them to be in terms of the severance packages and additional benefits they provided to those displaced in this situation. Though losing one's job is obviously a very difficult situation with which to deal, in my opinion, my company surpassed my personal expectations for what any company in this day and age would ever consider doing for those who were being displaced. Without question, I have a new respect for the leaders at my company.

In the midst of all of that stress, I am still trying to coordinate this family cruise which once I am on it in November will be the trip of a lifetime but which is today, THIS DA-YUM-ED FAMILY CRUISE. Step into my life for a minute and imagine yourself trying to make sure that 30 or so black folks to whom you are related have handled the myriad of details necessary to get their broke azzes out of the country for 9 days. From orchestrating passport application completion parties to trying to figure out the most economical route of travel to get everyone to and from the port without breaking the bank, to getting some of my knuckle-headed relatives to just return a phone call, I must say DAYUM, DA-YUM, DA-YUM!!!

Okay, got that out of my system. That brings us to this WATCH ME SHRINK thing I've gotten myself into. See what had happened waz....

I was doing just fine. I had NOT lost any weight the first week, but the inches were getting with the program and I was cool with that. When I continued to lose inches the second week but still no weight, I started to wonder what the heck was up. Then I thought back to the fact that I had recently seen my doctor for a neck injury at which time his office scale had said my weight was 210 pounds. The convergence of all of these things led me to the discovery that my "trusty scale" just might NOT be so trusty afterall. Confirming this to be fact, I went out on Sunday and purchased myself a new scale and started with a new baseline of 207 pounds on Sunday (this was 10 pounds heavier than my old scale said I was). This would be a devastating blow to some, but I am so committed to this thing that I simply took it in stride. I don't know what it is this time, but I know that NOTHING will stop me from reaching my goals and with a lil' help from my friends (even the invisible ones ;), I know that the prize is already mine! So here is a little video to show you all that I truly mean biznezz!!! I am not dumb enough to miss that the images in this video are not flattering; however, I've got my eyes on that day in the future when the first video of THE REAL ME goes up and all of you go scrambling back in my archives to today to see just how far my journey has taken me....Now that'll be something....

You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman...

After being at war with my hair for more than 40 years, I decided back in December 2007 to start the New Year by rebelling against expectations set for me by folks I know and many I'll never meet (read: society). I decided to cut off the thin, chemically processed, abused hair I had been sporting most of my life and allow myself to discover what my natural hair texture was like. It is important to note that all my life for as far back as I can remember I had been convinced that I had thin, weak hair that was destined not to grow and to break easily. Looking at my siblings (1 sister and 3 brothers) who all share my DNA though not my hair led me to wonder if I was adopted. Confirming that I was not, I was left thinking that just maybe the problem was not my hair itself but instead the damaging things I and others were continuously doing to it. Once my decision to cut it all off and start fresh was made, I found that I felt absolutely liberated by it...a feeling which only grew in intensity over the next several months.

So, on December 31st, I did what many refer to as the BIG CHOP though in my case, my hair was so unhealthy that the chop was not all that big. The next step was to become the protector of my hair which meant not allowing any harsh chemicals to come into contact with it. This included not only perms, but also shampoos, hairsprays, and heavy synthetic oils that block hair follicles and prevent the hair from breathing.

Instead, I dove into the internet and found blogs and YouTube videos that educated me about how to better care for black hair the natural way. Instead of shampoos and other harsh chemicals, I gave my hair plenty of moisture using natural products that I make myself with ingredients like olive oil, avocado, banana, and honey. I stopped using shampoos and other products containing alcohols and other drying agents as providing moisture appears to be the single most important thing we can do for our hair.

I found that it became much easier to care for my hair in addition to being a lot less expensive. After a second and significantly smaller Big Chop in April to rid myself of any ends containing residual chemicals, I found myself with a much healthier head of hair that was strong, more elastic so it doesn't easily break, and amazingly I found that in the absence of chemicals, my hair actually grows very rapidly! In this newfound land of natural hair, I have also found that I have also become significantly more creative in the art of styling my own hair, and I have a good time doing it to boot!

As I moved through the various phases of my hair journey, I wrote about my previous experiences trying to come to terms with my hair in this post, and I summed up the journey my hair and I had taken over the years in this poem which I wrote to enter into the Bloggers Delight Poetry Contest.

Now I find myself six months into this brave new world of NATURAL HAIR and these are my thoughts:

-I LOVE LOVE LOVE my natural tresses!
-I love the texture of my hair and am hard pressed to keep my hands out of it.
-I feel more me and have a self-confidence level that I've never had before...don't ask me why ;)
-I feel sexy and BEAUTIFUL in the way that only African Queens have ever been sexy & beautiful.
-I don't ever feel the need to put harsh chemicals into my hair again.

So since you guys started this journey with me, and in at least some small way it was partially inspired by the poem I wrote to enter into the Bloggers Delight 2 Write Poetry Contest, I thought I'd share a video pictorial of my HAIRSTORY to date that can show you better than I can tell you how a woman who has been convinced that she is destined never to have a strong, healthy, thick head of hair can have the hair GOD intended her to have once she stops abusing her hair with chemicals and starts loving it with the things of nature!

AT LONG LAST, MY COILS ARE BACK

AND

THEY'VE LEARNED ONCE AGAIN HOW TO RECOIL ;)

WHOSE ONBOARD THE CARVIVAL SPLENDOR?

NOVEMBER 21ST is rapidly approaching...WILL YOU BE ONBOARD??

Just A Quick Update On Ya Gurl...

Sorry for the long absence, but it seems that yours truly has somehow injured her neck and has found herself dealing with considerable pain and discomfort over the last week and a half or so. The really terrible part is that unfortunately all of you, my beautiful albeit PERVERTED-minded blog family members are wrong when you make the assumption that this neck injury was achieved in the commission of some lewd or lascivious behavior. (LOL) Even more than the pain in my neck, it pains me to say that no such luck has befallen your gurl...DAYUM, DAYUM, DAYUM!!!

I am currently being medicated with pain killers, muscle relaxers, and steroids to try to alleviate the stress and strain on my neck muscles, as well as undergoing physical therapy. I have been off from work for the last week and am currently scheduled for follow-up evaluation on this upcoming Wednesday. At this point, I am only able to do short stints in front of the computer and I am unable to drive at all which makes this not much fun at all.

Thus, I will stop in when I can and hope to be back in full effect in the not too distant future. In the meantime, it would be fantastic to chat with some of those I love so much on the phone, so give a sistah a holla and if you don't already have my number, hit me up on the personal email or just ask somebody as those who have the number prolly have a pretty good idea on who they would have my blessings to pass it on to ;) Also, as always it is my pleasure to get your comments right here at home ;)

So send up a special word to whoever it is you pray if indeed you pray, or simply send your blessings directly my way as I'm pretty much feeling like a big ass wuss right about now and could use any support you can offer. Whatever you do, please, please, please hang on in there with your gurl 'cause she won't ever be gone for long and you can bet your bottom dollar on that right thur!!!

She's Baaaaaaaackkkkkkkk....well, almost ;)

Hey blog fam!

Sorry for the long absence, but as I stated in my last post, the last couple of weeks were a beast! I am sitting in the airport at Chicago Midway as I type while awaiting my DELAYED plane which is scheduled to have me back in The Lou by 3pm this afternoon. I am not overly confident about my chances, so I thought I might post this quick blog to pass the time as I wait.

The party was a blast though Mother Nature got a bit pissy with us and tried to rain us out. I don't know what her problem was since she was sent a gold engraved invitation inviting her to attend. No matter though cause as y'all know, Ms. Just Write Now don't let a little Mother Nature piss stop no show! I have been too busy with business travels the last week to upload my pictures or to create my movie but as soon as I do, they will be shared here along with all the details of the festivities. However, I would like to thank my blog bro Mega Rich and his spectacularly beautiful family for gracing my affair with their presence ;)

I know I've been off the radar for a bit and my apologies to all of my regular reads for my failure to drop in and to comment. I find that I am so far behind with all of you super regular bloggers that I will never catch up if I comment. So though I will go back and catch up on everything I missed by reading the old posts, I will probably reserve my comments for the most recent posts so that I can get back on track as soon as possible...unless that is I find I simply can't help myself ;b

Even so, when I finally had the time to get online and do me instead of "The Man's bidding" last night, I found my gurls had started THE PUSSY CHATS! Now why they wanna go and do that?! I got caught up over there in a matter of an hour or less and simply couldn't refrain from adding my own two cents once I found my personal invitation to do so! You can see what I had to say here, but there are so many other things you've thought but never had the guts to say all over the place that you simply must stop by whether you have a pussy of your own or not! So at this time, I'd like to give a huge thank you to my blog sistahs Lovebabz and CapCity for RELEASING THE CATS OVER AT THE CHATS! Y'all are my idols!

Well, they are claiming my plane is here so I'd better wrap this now. I'll be back soon and I look forward to stopping by all of y'alls places soon so gone and get the margaritas ready!

Living My Life Like It's GOLDEN!

The Birthday was an absolute BLAST!!!! And just in case you don't believe me, here's the proof...

BTW, this video is pretty much over at the timepoint 3:40 but I couldn't make the Windows Movie Maker program stop so it just goes on and on and on and on and.... ENJOY ;-)

Also, I wanted to share my birthday present from Ladylee this year...she is the very first blogger I ever met, and she gave me my personal theme song on my birthday last year which I have used as background music for the birthday movie you are about to view! Thanks OG!

Do I Know You???

There is a curly-head LURKER out there who has been waiting for this post for many days now so I hope it is all that she hoped it would be!!!! YOU know who you are LURKER!

You see, the LURKER was the inspiration behind this post. I have known her since she was a young girl still in high school and though almost 20 years separate us in age, she is one of my dearest friends and as close to having a daughter as I am ever likely to come it seems. Even so, it occurred to me that I might very well be her best friend. This struck me as somewhat odd considering the difference in our ages, and I found myself wondering if I was right or not regarding the role I play in her life and this thought led me to an even bigger thought....as well as I believe I know her, maybe I really don't know her at all.

I was thrown into a bit of a tizzy as I thought this thought. I realized that even though I've always felt that she and I were extremely close and in some ways we are, suddenly it became clear to me that there are some definite GAPS in what I know about her. Now I know many of you are thinking, "There goes Ms. Just Write Now losing her mind 'cause she ain't all up in somebody's bizness." Though I will admit to a bit of nosiness, I assure you all that that is not the case in this situation. As I thought about my sister/daughter/friend I was astonished to realize that since she graduated college and moved to DC, I know very little about her new life. For instance, I don't know who her friends are and I always knew before. I don't know even who her BEST FRIEND is and considering the nature of our relationship, I find this unacceptable.

She and I spoke last week about this and other things that I no longer know about her, and she too was a bit taken aback to realize how much our relationship and the way we interact has changed. At one point, if she had decided to run away from home, I would have been the person who could have told you why she left, where she would go, and to whom she would turn for assistance. I was shocked to realize at this point that I MIGHT be able to give a motive but might be hard-pressed to do that even.

As I thought about this as it relates to others with whom I have significant relationships, I realized that in just about every case, there are HUGE gaps in how well I know people I love. Therefore, I have resolved this year to really and truly strive to know better those I care about. I will make the effort to become a real part of their lives. I will include them more deeply in my life. I will learn their truest self and share parts of my true self that they might not know exist. Above all else, I will no longer be content with the superficiality that I have allowed to define my relationships.

For some this will be a welcome change. For others it may feel like an invasion of privacy! For me, it will move me one step closer to being the person I want to be: One who is truly engaged and actively participating FULLY in the blessing of life!

THIS IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS!

RECOVERY....

Wow! I can't believe that my last post left you guys hanging like it did. I honestly didn't mean to, and when it was written, I had no idea it would be my last post for so long on this blog. There are a few explanations I could give for how it happened this way, but in reality, there are two true reasons that tell the story.

The first and most driving reason is that my "depression" was so all-encompassing that I could not think of anything to write about but the sadness and emptiness I was feeling during that time. It got to be so bad that for the first time in my life, I found that I would rather not write at all than to continue to write what in my opinion was not helping me to get better and probably only causing those who care about me to worry. So that's what I did, I didn't write; at least not here.

The other reason for my lapse here was the fact that my beloved son's senior year football season began on September first, and I created a blog for his team and found that I could write there because it took me away from focusing on the mess that was my life at the time. Writing the blog for his team definitely was therapeutic in that it kept me writing which still is as always the goal.

At this point, I can say that I feel like me again. The sadness is gone and the emptiness is being filled by all that was my life before I started down the path I took over the last year and a half. I have found ME again and my amnesia has cleared so that I have been RESTORED. NO, I am no longer the me that I was before, but don't doubt for a second that that ME is still a part of the ME that I am now and let me assure you that this ME is all that that ME was and then some (LOL!!!!).

So for all who wished me well and prayed for my self to be restored, it has been. I've missed you all and I've discovered many things in this time, but for me, the biggest lesson learned is this:

LIFE IS THE WAY THROUGH PAIN!

and

I AM STILL ALIVE!!!!

(and happy as hell to boot ;)

Many Have Wondered...

I know I said I would not be duplicating posts on the two blogs I now maintain, and the fact that I am adding this sentence kinda makes it so that I really haven't broken that committment....okay, NOT!...but anyway....

Many have wondered exactly what it was that led to the creation of the person that is ME! Wonder no more fight fans, because right this very moment, right now today, I want to introduce to each and every one of you to the individual responsible for the me that I am. Good, bad, or indifferent, love me or hate me, you can finally meet the responsible party who has started her very own blog which you can find here!!

So please go visit my beautiful Mother's personal space, invite her to join your neighborhoods if you feel so inclined [have no worries about her being my mother....she is a REAL person, with a beautiful spirit, capable of reading, embracing, and allowing even her own daughter to have "radical thoughts" and express them without fear of "Mother Judgement"], or just give her a good old fashioned welcome into the LAND OF BLOG!

Updates and Introductions

I have started a new blog on VOX. Not to worry, I also plan to keep this blog, because plain and simply, I Love It! However, I will be doing some writing over there as well. My new blog can be found at this address and it is called Write Right Now!

An update on the current status of my relationship with the PO can be found here for those who are interested. A year ago, I wrote this post, and now.... Wow! Talk about your 525600 minutes, could I really have been that far off base?

In the future, I will be posting here as well as there, and though the posts will not be duplicated, I will provide links back and forth whenever I think those of you who are accustomed to and/or prefer to come visit with me here might be interested in something I write over there! Of course I would love to have any and all of you to stop in over there as often as you'd like as my intent over there is to publish some of the writing from the "literary" projects I am working on at any given time for public review and comment/critique.

So in the words of Aleta Adams, "I don't care how you get there just get there if you can"!!!

Short and Sweet

One of the primary reasons I started this blog was to gain more experience with the craft of writing. After more than a year, I am proud to say I have learned some things. One of the things I have learned, is that I am LONG-WINDED.

If you know me personally, you already know that this particular trait doesn't only apply to my writing! That notwithstanding, I have decided to dedicated myself to posting more posts that are short and sweet in an attempt to hone my skills.

This is not to say that there will be no more "typical" Ms. Just Write Now rants....I don't have that much self control. However, I will be making the effort to post more frequent, shorter posts and see what happens.

The journey begins....

MUST SEE MOVIE!!!!! OPENING WEEKEND PEOPLE!!!!!

PEOPLE PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SUPPORT THIS MOVIE WHENEVER IT OPENS IN YOUR SLICE OF THE UNIVERSE. NOTHING HERE BUT GREAT PERFORMANCES BY GREAT PERFORMERS. PLEASE GO OUT AND SHOW THEM SOME LOVE. THEN, PLEASE COME BACK HERE AND POST A COMMENT WITH YOUR THOUGHTS. TALK TO ME!!!!

You can check out the movie trailer here.

The Muse Is Alive And Well!!!

NOVEMBER IS HERE, and that means two things....and neither of them revolves around Turkey Day, even though I'm about as thankful as one can possibly be this Thanksgiving, but that's a story for another post.....

1. It is the one year anniversary of the month I began blogging. That's right fight fans, Ms. Just Write Now is one year old this month and to honor this momentous occasion, I will be taking suggestions from you on what I should do on/to/with this blog in the future. I am currently working on a "100 Things You Might Not Know About Ms. Just Write Now" list, and I'm finding it very difficult as I have discovered in this exercise that I just might be Ms. Too Damned Open and Forthcoming as it seems I have few secrets left ;) However, I will forge ahead and come up with some truly useless information about myself that the mass majority of you never ever even hoped to know because afterall, that's what I do ;)
2. NANOWRIMO month is here! For those of you who did not pay attention last year, or simply didn't care, NANOWRIMO is an achronym that is short for National Novel Writers Month. This is a month of madness that if it works, results in the creation of the skeletal outline of what might with just a bit more work, become my personal contribution to the body of literary work that will one day truly produce the ever elusive Great American Novel! NANOWRIMO challenges writers to just forget about plot plausibility, character development, hell, even grammar to produce VOLUME. The premise is based on the belief "dirt will wait until you get around to it so go on and make a big mess...." [note....that is my personal interpretation], so the primary goal is to get it down [50000 words or more in 30 days], and cleaning it up (so to speak) can occur later. So, this is the exercise that I have submerged myself into for the second year running, and it explains that link on the left margin of my site that so many of you never ventured to click in the last year, thereby foregoing the pleasure [or tragedy depending on your tastes], of having read the excerpt from my last year's submission "Motherless Child". Though it is too late to read the excerpt from that venture as it has been removed to make room for the newborn, those of you with any curiosity about some of the madness that circulates and eventually has to be released from Ms. Just Write Now's tragic mind can find a short sample of said madness if you click the NANOWRIMO link to the left. If indeed you do decide to click that link, after you have read what is there, I would appreciate it immensely if you would come back here and share your thoughts about what you read there.

So that's what I'm up to in a nutshell, that and planning the wedding of the millenium. I have been writing posts for this blog and storing them to be uploaded about every three days or so as I am just about ready to go back to posting regularly. So please come by regularly fight fans as I do so love your company. Wish me luck as I tackle the mountain of words that must be compiled to satisfy the hunger of the NANO monster; and if you have the time and/or the inclination, click the link to the left and read the excerpt of my latest literary attempt "DIVERSE DISCRIMINATION".

Ms. Just Write Now out.......