DEAD PREZ - The Beauty Within

Cheryl 'Pepsii' Riley - Thanks For My Child

The Significance of Closure

At the end of each year, folks around the world take personal inventory of accomplished goals, missed opportunities and prospects for tomorrow.  With 21 days left before this year is officially over, I have taken the time to focus on the importance of closure and self-reflection.  I began this digital diary at the start of 2010 thinking that this was a great medium for sharing my personal message and hearing from folks out in cyberspace about their experiences.  The only drawback is that my marketing tactics were weak and nearly non-existent.  What the blogs have morphed into resembled more of journal pages in digital format for public view.  However, I am appreciative of the courage to begin to share myself with such candor.  Today I know that this journey would not have been complete if I did not comprise a list of the things that actually got completed in 2010.  At this moment I want to acknowledge myself for the following:

1. Having the courage to start the Brown Girls Talk Blog
2. Inviting a few friends to actually read my words
3. Self publishing my 1st self-help book entitled "Always the Victor, Never A Victim: Healing, Loving & Laughing While Affirming Yourself
4. Taking 2 all female trips to New Orleans & Las Vegas for the 1st time in my life
5. Visiting 2 cities in California for the purposes of relocation
6. Driving cross country to relocate to San Diego, CA
7. Applying and entering a PhD program
8. Submitting, serving and awaiting the final decree for a divorce
9. Living on my own for the 1st time in my life
10. Caring for my mother who had major surgery

While the aforementioned accomplishments may not seem so grand, they are events which have made me feel a sense of pride.  They can be used as reminders for what I am capable of achieving despite the appearance of madness and confusion all around.  The way we begin a thing is typically the way that we end it.  I'd like to believe that I began 2010 with a sense of strength and resilience.  And it is only natural that I close the year out in the same way.  Although there are some other areas which I intend to bring closure to by December 31, I know that acknowledging my personal accomplishments had to get completed.

My Poppa: A Gift from God

At this time on the gregorian calendar, millions of people around the world are preparing to give, receive, purchase and make gifts for their family, friends and folks in need.  While I support any effort that brings joy, peace and happiness to the planet, I thought it necessary to express my sincere gratitude for the greatest gift that I have ever been blessed to receive.
His name is Poppa. He is my 1st and only child to this date.  He has been the greatest gift that any woman could ask for in life.  I acknowledge that Poppa is not some academic, athletic or artistic prodigy according to society's standards, yet he is my prodigy.  Poppa is unique in his walk, talk and overall swagger, and for that I am thankful.  Although we don't always see eye 2 eye, I love this adolescent on a cellular and molecular level.  You don't share a body with a person for nearly a year and sever the connection because they physically detach.  We are bonded for life.  He may not always respond to my requests, screams and frustrations on their initial projection.  Yet, we are bonded for life.  He may use all types of profane verbiage while playing his PS3, but he is my gift from God.  To me Poppa is a great humanitarian, orator, leader and spiritual warrior in his own right.  He is a baby soldier on a journey, and we are on this battlefield together.  He is the 5 star general of his life, and I am his 2nd in command.  I can't imagine what it means to be "public enemy #1" i.e. black man in America, yet I can envision a transformed existence for God's greatest gift to me.  Although our journey together began a while ago, this is the 1st time that I am consciously choosing to walk the path beside Poppa.  Not taking the lead like some overbearing control freak of a mother.  Not taking the back like some disempowered soul.  Gonna grab his hand and forge into the seemingly uphill battle called life and conquer the fears, the frustrations and the upsets together.  I figured since I have been blessed with a gift from God, I must honor, cherish and reverence the Creator that dwells within My Poppa.  For this gift, I am eternally grateful.