Approx. 26 years and nine months ago....

for my biological fathers birthday weekend, my mother helped my father create one birthday gift he'd never forget!

9 months later after that fun filled weekend at approx. 10:05am, my mom gave birth to an extremely cute yellow mass of flesh! The doctor who delivered told the parents of the jaundice stricken child that she was gonna be a baseball player and that my father should go across the way and buy a happy meal to feed me. See I wasn't even out the womb good before the fat jokes started, it wasn't my fault I never been slim a day in my life! Sheesh!

26 years later I have become a grown woman! That thought alone is scary! Even though I am not completely happy in all aspects of my life. I am okay with how I have been raised and what I have been able to do on my own thus far. I turned out to be one naturally beautiful child of God and I am thankful to see another year go by with my health in tact.

For my birthday I brought myself an aloe vera plant. According to a natural hair care site, aloe vera gel is good for locs. So I am growing my own plant! I am going to try to anyways. I took one of the more pitiful looking leaves and used the gel to retwist some of my strands and while looking in the mirror I took a good look at myself. I may not be societies definition of nice looking, but I have one thing that some folks in the spotlight don't have. Natural beauty. Pure and undefined. No expensive hair extensions waving in the air...no Mac makeup to cover any part of my face...no branded clothing to cover my curves, even the extra ones I don't care for...just straight up unadulterated beauty! I don't know, maybe it was the India Arie in the background telling me about how she ain't built like a supermodel or how she don't need all that extra stuff to be a queen, but I saw so much beauty staring back at me in the mirror last night. I really wish I could feel this way about self all day everyday.

I would be lying if I said that I didn't wish that one of my homies would call me up today and be like yo ladynay take a half day off work and lets go shoot the breeze at the beach, or that my sexy significant other comes through to cater me hand and foot then rearranges my insides. But the reality is that my homies work just like I do and a significant other is non existent in my life right now. But it's all good. For the past few days I have been trying to think of ways to make today stand out and be special, but it really looks like today will be just like any other day...go to work, go to school, go back to work, go home! I am sorta kinda okay with that. I just got to keep things in perspective, some people didn't wake up today or have lived to see 26 years. I got 365 days to plan something hot for 27! :-)

Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to meeeeeeeeeeee
Happy Birthday to me

and many moreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!