Sand vs. Stone

People actually read this ..
Wow ..

So I was reading my email the other day and I came across an email from a friend ages ago!! Like 1999 .. LOL! I sent it back to her, and I was like, seriously .. "you remember this?"

She sent me back a reply..
"LOL! You really keep your mail this long? OK, you're weird, but I never really remembered it.
Matter of fact, I think I gonna print it out and post it up, something to remember.. LOL!

By the way, we still on for Thursday? Mr. Bachelor wants to meet again..
Laters .. "

She & I have been friends - in passing - just over 5 years now.. and we met under dubious circumstances, i thought she was proud, self-centred and too pretty for her own good. And then I met another side of her which proved .. I WAS RIGHT! But she had every reason to be. She had her son when she was 16, she grew up without her father, and her son suffers the same faith, she works and she goes to school, and she's been hurt in love too often.

Putting all that aside, and I know it may sound 'majorly cliched', but thats what makes her who she is. She's one of the few women who know that staying strong no matter what WILL make people hate you, but don't give a damn! After all, ain't nobody helping you live your life but you.. and if they got a problem with it, then damn .. thats THEIR problem.

Katt Williams says it best - and let me tell you, this brotha says a LOT of things, usually have me in stictches, especially last night on HBO's The Pimp Chronicles, Pt. 1, I nearly died laughing!

But on a real tho .. he said that if a woman has 16 people hating on her because she does what she does - she better get number 17 hating on her before Christmas. People are gonna ALWAYS watch what you do, and if you keep doing you and they have a problem with it, SCREW EM .. Cuz at the end of the day, they're still hating on you, while you chilling with your man, your children or your mama, and your'e happy doing that..

And Tyler Perry as Madea - Lord knows this man has a front row seat to my heart's affairs, and he's good at putting people's feelings into words, and he's said many a thing I've been tempted to say but at the risk of offending too many people, I've kept my mouth shut - he gave me some solid advice in his play Madea Goes To Jail.

Now I don't give a damn, if y'all wanna say I take movies too seriously.. as someone always having a love affair with words, stories, poetry and music, movies simply presents a medium where all that is thrown in the mix. Life and movies always on the other side of the road, but there comes a rare opportunity when you have the chance to actually see it all mesh as one. Tyler Perry was lucky enough to get the hang of it.

In his play, Jail, the main character (I don't want to say Madea, cuz albeit a genuine representative of so many Black grandmas around, Tyler Perry is the real shitznit behind it all!) says that some people can be put in the category of trees.

Some are like the leaves on a tree, they're like the weather, constantly changing and you never know when they'll leave, and they have no real benefit but to give shade now and then, eventually withering away..

Then there are those are like branches on the tree - they seem sturdy and strong, but if you go too far out they'll break and leave you hanging or simply make you fall..

Then there are the roots of the tree - no one has to know that they know you, they don't need to be seen, but if they weren't there then the tree couldn't survive. The roots are there to hold the tree up, provide support and nutrients and give to the tree - they don't want or need anything in return.

How lucky am I that I've been blessed to know a few roots? I've known too many leaves and enough branches that I just have to take the good with the bad.. But if the few roots weren't there to give me whatever support i needed, then I'd be just as good as one of those leaves you see blowing around bout the place outside ..

So, let me welcome myself back .. and people, get ready for quite a ride ..
This is why I decided to post tis entry today..

Sand & Stone..

TWO FRIENDS WERE WALKING
THROUGH THE DESERT.
DURING SOME POINT OF THE
JOURNEY, THEY HAD AN
ARGUMENT; AND ONE FRIEND
SLAPPED THE OTHER ONE
IN THE FACE.

THE ONE WHO GOT SLAPPED
WAS HURT, BUT WITHOUT
SAYING ANYTHING,
WROTE IN THE SAND:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND
SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.

THEY KEPT ON WALKING,
UNTIL THEY FOUND AN OASIS,
WHERE THEY DECIDED
TO TAKE A BATH

THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN
SLAPPED GOT STUCK IN THE
MIRE ! AND STARTED DROWNING,
BUT THE FRIEND SAVED HIM.

AFTER HE RECOVERED FROM
THE NEAR DROWNING,
HE WROTE ON A STONE:

"TODAY MY BEST FRIEND
SAVED MY LIFE ".

THE FRIEND WHO HAD SLAPPED
AND SAVED HIS BEST FRIEND
ASKED HIM, "AFTER I HURT YOU,
YOU WROTE IN THE SAND AND NOW,
YOU WRITE ON A STONE, WHY?"

THE FRIEND REPLIED
"WHEN SOMEONE HURTS US
WE SHOULD WRITE I T DOWN
IN SAND, WHERE WINDS OF
FORGIVENESS CAN ERASE IT AWAY.
BUT, WHEN SOMEONE DOES
SOMETHING GOOD FOR US,
WE MUST ENGRAVE IT IN STONE
WHERE NO WIND
CAN EVER ERASE IT."

LEARN TO WRITE
YOUR HURTS IN
THE SAND AND TO
CARVE YOUR
BENEFITS IN STONE.

THEY SAY IT TAKES A
MINUTE TO FIND A SPECIAL
PERSON, AN HOUR TO
APPRECIATE THEM, A DAY
TO LOVE THEM, BUT THEN
AN ENTIRE LIFE
TO FORGET THEM.

SEND THIS TO
THE PEOPLE YOU'LL NEVER
FORGET.

I JUST DID.