18 & 17 Thankful For My Job and a Rap Legend Gone Too Soon...

-So IOU one..

Yesterday, Monday - was the 18th day in the Thanksgiving Birthday Countdown.  After a great weekend, it's always so hard to get up on Monday morning to get ready for work.  But right now, with a new mayor in office and a reorganization underway, I'm glad to have a job to get up for every morning.  I've never been through this experience before, and while it's an interesting process to watch unfold; I sympathize with all the employees who have lost their jobs.
Read more below and hear my fav Heavy D song...

It's kind of ironic that I chose to make my job #18, even though I didn't get to post it yesterday.  I think it's more on point today. I walked into the house after work to my niece complaining about her second job not giving her enough hours. She was threatening to quit.  I had to stop her in her tracks and remind her how good God has been to her.  I told her if she's not careful with all the complaining, God will snatch both jobs from under her and give them to someone who really needs and wants a job.  There are people all across the country right now suffering.  I know the feeling.  Lon and I have both been there.   So I'm eternally grateful to the Lord for my one job.

-#17 in the countdown ends with some sad news, but I'm thankful for the life and legacy of one of the greatest rappers that ever spit a rhyme - the Overweight Lover, Heavy D!  The hip hop legend died today at the age of 44.  I can't believe he's gone.  If you ask me which album I love the most, it would be the third one: "Peaceful Journey".  I remember it because Lon played it nonstop once when I visited him and his family in Baltimore, Maryland.  That was Spring 1991.  My favorite song was "Now That We Found Love", of course.  Lon and I were still new and fresh in love back then.  It was even more memorable because Lon and his family had moved to Baltimore after we had been together for about a year and half. It was my first time flying and traveling without my family.

That wasn't the end of Heavy D's impact on my life.  He gave me my first rap love song, but his 1994 hit single, "Black Coffee" on his fifth album, "Nuttin But Love", became my anthem.

"Black coffee, no sugar, no cream!  That's the kind of girl I need down with my team." 

 I think the song is about his love for black women in general, but back in the day, I just knew Heavy was talking about me - well in some parts of the song anyway.  Hearing those lyrics helped to boost my confidence as a dark-skinned girl, who was already a late bloomer and the butt of everybody's black jokes in grade school.

"Black Coffee" went hand in hand with my college experience.  Freshman year, I instantly became a "Nubian" or "African" queen, and black was suddenly beautiful.  It was a relief, even though just two months prior, my chocolate skin wasn't good enough.  OK, OK...I won't go there.  I promise.  I'm over it.  :-)  Just saying...Heavy D was a part of me accepting that little, skinny, black girl.  It also helped shape the woman I am today. Black coffee, no sugar, no cream - pure and simple.

Thank you, Dwight Arrington Myers for your poetic lyrics.  You had a major impact on my life, and you will continue to inspire millions for many years to come.  ~ R.I.P.

1967-2011