1. My Health
This year started out shakily and I’m so thankful to be well again. Like Oprah Winfrey and Missy Elliot, I too was diagnosed with a thyroid problem. Mine, like Missy Elliot, was Graves Disease. I said “was” because as of now I’m back to health, with the help of months of intense research, an altered diet and herbs. I’m writing a book about it now.

2. My Talent
I’m so grateful for the music that comes through me. I can’t even take credit for it. I’m just the vessel. Sometimes I sit down at the keyboard or pick up my guitar, thinking I’m going to write about something and an entirely different song comes through. After I’ve recorded it, sometimes I can’t even remember the process that I went through to write the song. I’m thankful that the Universe chose me to bring forth the music.

3. My Family
Sometimes family is not the blood connection that we were born into. Sometimes it’s the family we create. Those people who we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, have our backs.
My mother was one of those people who shouldn’t have had children, but that didn’t stop her. In retrospect of course I’m glad to be alive but I have to admit that I had a pretty crappy childhood. I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’ve forgiven my mother. I realize that she did the best she could, armed with the tools she had at her disposal. I’m thankful that she at least kept me alive long enough for me to take care of myself, even though that was at the tender young age of nine. And even though my mother was not capable of showing me love as a child, I’ve decided to give her unconditional love. Because everyone should know what that feels like. And I’ve created my own family around me, to give me the unconditional love and support that I need to thrive. I’m thankful for them.

4. My Kitchen Skills
Anyone who knows me knows I can burn in the kitchen! And there’s always something good going on in my kitchen. I can cook all kinds of things. After watching the movie Julie Julia, I had to make boeuf bourguignon. And it was, of course, absolutely delicious. I don’t believe Julia Childs’ dish could have been more delicious. There are things that I won’t make at home because I’m such a good cook that once I make something at home, chances are I’ll be disappointed when I have it in a restaurant. So I won’t make bread pudding or sand dabs with capers in lemon sauce, for example. I’ve had to remove gluten and eggs from my diet because of the thyroid issue, and it’s been fun coming up with alternative ways to make sweet potato pie and other baked yummies. I’m thankful that I have to skills to, as my adopted nana says, “put my foot in it.”

As I sit down to enjoy a special meal, prepared with love, surrounded by some of the people that I love and who love me, I am thankful that I’ve been blessed with yet another day to revel in the goodness that is my life. I hope that you too have reasons to be thankful on this and every day.

Rose Z is one such person. Although she’s also in LA, we’ve not met face-to-face. Perhaps we will one day but for right now we’re content to tweet back and forth. As I always do, I clicked on the link to her website osumpinkgirl.com when she started following me. There, I was introduced to her lovely sharpie art.

I fantasized about having a daughter of the sun sharpie art piece done for me and mentioned as much in a tweet. To say that I was thrilled when she tweeted back offering to do such a piece would be an understatement! My very own osumpinkgirl sharpie art? Bring it on!

I was even more thrilled when I opened the mailbox and saw a large envelope addressed to me. I excitedly tore it open and, lo and behold, there it was — The Victorious Sunflower!

This lovely work of art is definitely going into the new video I’m putting together. Thank you, osumpinkgirl! You rock! And thanks Twitter for making it possible to meet awesome folks!

I celebrate my birthday from July 21 to August 21, the reason being, I don’t know when my exact birthday is. My mother was one of those women who shouldn’t have had children. But have children she did, one of which was me. We moved around a lot when I was a kid. That coupled with the fact that I didn’t attend school on anything close to a regular basis, causes a lot of confusion, not only about what month I was born in, but also what year!

Most people know how old they are because they can say, “When I was six years old, I was in the first grade, when I was eight, I was in the third grade…” You get the idea. Well, I was never in the first grade or second grade. I never went to school until we arrived in New York City.

My mother has a way of getting people to forget about rules and regulations, which apparently she did when she finally decided it was time for me to go to school. I was born at home and my birth wasn’t registered. (I guess either there was an awful lot happening at the same time, or my mother didn’t think it was important.) That means there was no birth certificate given at the time of my school registration. I was given a series of tests and, based on my test scores, I was placed in the 8th grade.

Unfortunately, it was too late for school to be of any use to me. I was used to learning at my own pace, which was a much faster pace than the one in the public school system. Since we didn’t have money when I was a child, I would always find the local public library whenever we touched down somewhere. I’d spend my days there, reading as many books as I could before closing, often four or five books a day. And I’m not talking children’s books, although I did read some of those. I’m talking Jean Paul Sartre, Ayn Rand, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Steve Biko, Ayi Kwei Armah, James Clavell. I remember reading Taipan and crying for weeks on end because May May died at the end of the book. My favorite book as a child was A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. That book saved me on many occasions. Because of it, I was able to rise above my circumstances and focus on the brilliant future that I was sure lay ahead.

Anyway, getting back to my birthday celebration. (Check out my new fro!) People came with food and wine and the party went on until nearly 2:00 A.M. By the time I got into bed, I was exhausted, but happy, knowing how loved I was by so many.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: I received a birthday card from my mother! The first one ever! I’ve been working on her. Trying to get her to open up and realize the importance of family. And I think it’s working. I decided that I wasn’t going to judge her. I was just going to give her unconditional love. After all, she could have just given birth to me and dropped me in a dumpster. And then I wouldn’t have had that fun birthday celebration on Sunday! And yes, there will be a song about her on my new album. More about that soon…