Today is the first day of spring! Hallelujah! It’s been a hard winter for most of the United States with all of the snow…Even the A had its fair share of snow this year! But all of that is over for 2011…At least I think so, but God is in charge…It’s time to thoroughly clean my house and get cotton candy polish painted on my toes. And it’s time to break out the happy music! So without further ado, I will post my Top 10 Songs to get me in the mood for spring! (In no particular order) And please let me know what music gets you in the mood for my second favorite season of the year! (Of course, summer is my absolute fave..how could it be any different for someone with Jamaican heritage?)
“I Got A Man” – Positive K. This flirty song gets me in the mood to get myself cute in the spring because summer is coming…And this song is one of the hip hop classics that did not need cursing & misogyny to get air play…
“Happy Feelings” – Maze. This is the kind of song that makes you turn your windows down in your car and take in all of the sounds, smells & sights of spring…
“You Brought The Sunshine” – The Clark Sisters. When you are getting ready for church in the spring, this is a perfect song to groove to…
“Let’s Groove” – Earth, Wind & Fire. Another song to groove to in the car!
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” – Nirvana. This is a great song to run to…Now that it is officially spring, I have no more excuses to get out there and pound the pavement! Hopefully, I will make it in the Peachtree Road Race since the powers that be have instituted a lottery system for the first time…
“Lovely Day” – Bill Withers. This song always makes me feel better. It’s great for dancing to when you’re alone in your bedroom 🙂 And a great cool down song after an intense workout!
“What a Wonderful World” – Louis Armstrong. No explanation needed. Sheer perfection!
“Could You Be Loved” – Bob Marley. I just feel the sun on my back whenever I hear this song! I need to get back to Jamaica!!!
“Everything is Everything” – Lauryn Hill. After winter, must come spring! YES!
“Girls Just Want To Have Fun- Cyndi Lauper. A great song any time of the year, but particularly in spring when everything is coming to life again!
What’s your favorite song or songs to get you in the mood for spring?
Some of the graduates from the class of 1992, and our very own version of Joe Clark, Mr. Gunn, our loveable but strict principal...Remember that huge pencil he carried with him?
I would rather not write about this topic this morning, but I feel that I ought to do so – simply because it is a part of life although I would like to avoid it…
This week via Facebook I found out a high school classmate passed away. I was shocked and saddened to hear the news. I guess I was shocked because the last time I remember seeing her was in high school, and I remember how easily she smiled and how loudly she laughed. She was not a shy person at all. She was full of life as we all were back then…I think the very first funeral I went to was in high school. A high school classmate had committed suicide. As sorrowful as I was at that time, the fact that this classmate chose to take his own life seemed more acceptable in my mind than someone in my age group dying for a cause outside of his or her control…But as we get older, that seems to be the case more and more…and I hate it…I really do…
I also found out via Facebook that the the viewing of her body and funeral would be nearly down the street from me, and I knew I had to go although I really didn’t want to…but I knew I had to pay homage to the girl that she was when I knew her and the woman that she became…I decided to attend the viewing…I was surprised to see how calm and even jovial her husband was at the viewing until he explained why he was determined to not be melancholy although it would be justified. He told us in the chapel that he was glad to see her pain and suffering end although he was sad for their two daughters that no longer have a mother…
As I said, I had not seen my high school classmate in years, and the body that I saw on Friday did not look like the vivacious person that I remembered. And I don’t want to remember her that way. That’s why I was relieved when a video of pictures from her life were shown. In all of the pictures, her easy smile was the centerpiece. And then her husband and friends shared story after story of her apparent mischievousness. I always knew there was more to her than what I saw in the halls of Benjamin E. Banneker High School. I was reunited with a few of my high school classmates and childhood friends at the viewing, and it brought back memories of the blissfully ignorant days of childhood when the world was only as big as your block and the most evil you experienced was getting into a fight on the bus…
Yesterday, as I was driving to a more happy event, a bridal shower, I saw some kids in my neighborhood riding bikes and jumping up and down on the asphalt like they were on invisible pogo sticks. One little girl was so oblivious to the outside world that she was riding her bike with her eyes closed. I said a silent prayer for her as she whizzed by my car, and I contemplated stopping to tell her it was dangerous to ride her bike on the street out in the open with her eyes closed…But the image of her did capture my world circa the ’80s and the ’90s…I thank God and my parents that I had a really wonderful childhood…My childhood brings to mind this verse…
Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,
Before the difficult days come,
And the years draw near when you say, “ I have no pleasure in them.” Ecclesiastes 12:1
I don’t know why God permits death or why evil befalls us time to time, and I would prefer not to think about all of that any further this morning…This morning I want to reflect on 1992 and the years before “difficult days” came to be…Excuse me while I open my time capsule of memories…(I wish I would have actually buried one somewhere…)
Two other trends from the '90s - fingerwaves and school boy glasses...thank God I got better with time, but you gotta love that thick and lustrous black hair...
Movies that came out in 1992 – Basic Instinct (I went out on a double date to see that movie), Wayne’s World, Sister Act, The Bodyguard (The soundtrack to this movie can stand alone), Lethal Weapon 3…
Songs that came out in 1992 – Baby, Baby, Baby by TLC, Jump by Kris Kross, Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus (1992 was a really good year for Billy Ray, as his daughter Miley was born in 1992 as well. Can we say meal ticket? I know that was wrong…sorry…), Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, Baby Got Back by Six Mix-A-Lot (This song made me feel pretty good that I had something to show for my love of red beans and rice..
Remember these slang words from the ’90s -” Boo Ya!, ” “Talk To The Hand,” “Save the drama for your mama!,” “Peace Out,” “Not!”
Anyway, I could go on, but I won’t…Even though the class of 1992 is sure to continue dwindling as the years pass by, I promise to always remember the good times…R.I.P. S.P.J…
Any thoughts?
This is probably my favorite song from 1992 and seems apropos right now…
Not even the postlady has been to my mailbox since last week...
If you’re in the A, you know what’s up…and it’s not the temperature…And if you’re not in the A, let me fill you in…It’s Day 3 of being hemmed up in my home. That’s right, I have not left my house since Sunday around 6 p.m. because the city of Atlanta and surrounding cities are snowed in and just about all of our businesses, government buildings, etc. have not even opened for the week…It’s almost unbelievable…We ATLiens just ain’t used to dealing with cold temperatures for too long much less snow so we have shut it down baby…
Okay so follow me on this: Sometimes, I’m too deep for my own good, but all of this has got me wondering what God has been up to for the last three days…Just what is He trying to tell us…It could be nothing…I mean weather is weather, and we’ve all heard the talk about how our climate is changing, etc. But I also know that God sometimes hems us up for divine purposes…
“You hem me in behind and before and you lay your hand upon me.” Psalm 139:5
So if you’re here in Atlanta, have you considered why God has hemmed up you up for the last three days? For me, I’ve been able to work on some critical writing projects…And since you cannot immediately respond to my question, I have decided to post some of the most interesting status updates I’ve seen on Facebook about the Atlanta snowstorm and why some of my Facebook friends here in the A may be hemmed up and what the Lord is trying to tell them…Of course, no names are attached to these updates…Presenting the funny & poignant…
wonders how many Atlanta snowstorm babies will be born 9 months from now…hmm…(Maybe God is trying to tell you it’s time to add to the family.)
Being still…………….(Maybe He hasn’t been able to get your attention before.)
is making sure I turn over every few hours so I won’t get bed sores!!!…ahhh this is the life!! :))))) (Maybe you just really needed to rest…)
A good way to test the endurance of your relationships is to become snowed in for more than 48 hours! The first 8 is the honeymoon, the next 40 is the trial! (Maybe God is trying tell you that buster really ain’t for you…)
I think I see a message in this bad weather for me. I only can talk about me:) It’s saying write, write, write. Okay, I think I will write. What about the rest of you that’s working on getting that book published? Did you really think I was going to leave my friends out? (God has given you a gift. Why aren’t you using it?)
I’m really tripping off of all these parents who keep saying they are tired of being snowed in with their kids and are ready for them to go back to school. Hmmmmmm what an interesting phenomenon. Maybe they are getting a taste of what us educators get on a daily basis, 5 days a week 180 days a year. If you’re tired of them…… how do you think we feel at the end of the day, week, year?? (Maybe God is telling you that you need to train and discipline your children so that others won’t have a hard time with them when they are away from you.)
My husband is my HERO! He just walked over 4 1/2 miles to rescue me. THANKS honey. I love you. To my co-workers, my car is on the side of the road, if you can get it I’ll come in to work. 🙂 (Maybe you needed to be reminded why your hubby is The One.)
For the last 2 days, I’ve been snowed in and living the life of a REAL Housewife of ATL: Cooking 3 meals a day, and snacks, for my family, laundry, cleaning up, quality time with the family, etc. Where’s my darn TV show? (Maybe home & hearth needed to be attended to…)
Just left downtown from the Atlanta Union Mission passing out blankets to the homeless. Im thankful for a warm home, hot cook meal, and clean drawers. God bless the homeless during this artic temperature. (Maybe God is telling you to count your blessings and not always think about your own circumstances at the same time…)
Greetings from Atlanta, where we anticipate Jesus’ return momentarily. (As the world continues to get crazier a la a three-day snowstorm in the A, y’all better get right with God and do it now…)
Happy Snow Day #3! I’m.out…
Any thoughts?
“Maybe God is Trying Tell You Something” from “The Color Purple”
