The Audience at Life's Performances.

Life is a theater so invite your audiences carefully. Not everyone is holy enough and healthy enough to have a FRONT ROW seat in our lives.

Some people in your life need to be loved from a distance.

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you let go, or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not-going-anywhere relationships, friendships, fellowships, and family!

Everyone Can't be in Your FRONT ROW.

Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention to Which ones lift and which ones lean?

Which ones encourage and which ones discourage?

Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are just going downhill?

When you leave certain people, do you feel better or feel worse?

Which ones always have drama or don't understand, know and appreciate you and the gift that lies within you?

Everyone Can't be in Your FRONT ROW.

The more you seek God and the things of God, the more you seek quality, the more you seek not just the hand of God but the face of God, the more you seek things honorable, the more you seek growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you, the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the FRONT ROW and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.

Everyone Can't be in Your FRONT ROW.

You cannot change the people around you...but you can change the people you are around!

Ask God for wisdom and discernment and choose wisely the people who sit in the FRONT ROW of your life.

Remember that FRONT ROW seats are for special and deserving people and those who sit in your FRONT ROW should be chosen carefully.

Everyone Can't be in Your FRONT ROW

Even though I celebrate my birthday all month long, my official events with my June Birthday Bestie, T.T. have come to a close. Every year within the past 6 years maybe, I am reminded of this poem above, which was emailed to me years ago. Growing up, I celebrated my birthdays traveling a lot. My birthday would usually fall during the week of the National Baptist Sunday School & Baptist Training Union (BTU) Congress. I was an attendee, for some of those years. One year, we were traveling back home from Los Angeles and at midnight, a charter bus full of church members broke out into a round of "Happy Birthday". I think that was my 13th birthday. In my twenties, people would be nice and throw me dinner or a party but invariably somebody would be upset by the end of the event. And even though my loved ones meant well, by age 27, I refused for anyone else to plan an event ever again.

As I get older I realize all the people that cause the major issues at 20s events are people that are not in my life now. As I get older, life has changed for me so, I know it has changed for other people. Sometimes the people at Act 5 of Life's performance are not around for Act 10.

Some left because you are not their type of play. Some acted up and the ushers had to escort them out of the Life Theater. This goes for the people on the Front Row to Last Row.

My birthday is not limited to Front Row people but they are the people I think of first. Over the years, that front row has changed. I remember one birthday, only two Front Row people were celebrating in person with me (It was a Monday). That was 8 years ago.

One is no longer a front-row person. She's not watching my performance anymore. I realized that I was not her type of theatrical work and she was not mine. Probably like the poem says, I should have observed some things earlier and switched that seat some time ago.

But That's Life!!!

As Always, Talking to You in Adult Terms

Happy Birthday Miss Smiles!!!

Yeah, I did something cliche' for my birthday. LoL The last time my birthday was on a Monday, I turned __ and that is considered one of the "Big" ages. My family surprised me with an ice cream cake. Then I went out to eat with my BFF We will call "Love" for this blog and a former friend (Don't look at me crazy. If you read my blog you know my friendship temperaments). Dinner was winding down and I up and decided I wanted a Tattoo. I always wanted one (somewhere on my foot (most people around me don't have foot tattoos) or toe), a small Smiley Face but I never felt like it was ever the right time. Until then.

I might need to bring that hairstyle back

So off we go. I found the perfect one with assistance from the group, who are actually "Walking, Talking Pieces of Paper" themselves. The Perfect Smiley Face. So I got one.

Yes, I'm fast. I have on a skirt.
That skirt is slightly too big now and goes past my knees. LoL
#weightlossbrag

It hurt a little. Like a continual booster shot but then I can look at people putting those in my arm and not move. Finally, Miss Smiles was born.

Miss Smiles is a reminder that God Blessed me to live a "Happy Life". Why my foot? If my feet hurt, I hurt. LoL For some odd reason I get comfort in rubbing my feet. I have literally been going through and noticed myself rubbing my feet as I pray. Plus No One I know has one on their foot. Point Blank, that's the story.

Happy Birthday, Miss Smiles!!!

As Always, Talking to You in Adult Terms

June, June, June!!!

First let me thank you all for the condolences, prayers, & love shown to me in the passing of my beloved friend, FootBall Nerd. With God, I am breathing through it. *BIG* hug

If I had a Favorite month, it would probably be June!!!

June is Big month for me. It's my birthday month!!! I think I just want to have Sunday Brunch or Lunch at Taco Casa (I have an unfulfilled Taco craving) and go see "Think Like a Man Too" (That I feel like should have been called "Act Like a Lady", IMO). I usually share plans with my friend, T.T. so I'll see what she might have planned also. I do know what we won't be doing. We won't get to line dance at happy hour. Our favorite dance spot closed last month. Farewell Beamers!!! Midnightish will be different. Football Nerd usually was first to tell me Happy Birthday. Somehow I know he will give me birthday wishes on that day around "Midnight".  June 4 would've been Football Nerd's 38th birthday. Happy Birthday, Baby!!! I'm going to spend it in quiet reflection and write him a letter with Everything I need to tell him. I wore my pearls to his services. Pearl is the traditional birthstone for the month of June. *wink*

In June we celebrate Father's Day. By now you know I was raised by a single mother but had great father figures in my life. Well, I am going to release a piece that stirs inside of me this time of the year called "Grateful to be a Deadbeat's Daughter". Stay Tuned for that.

Juneteenth is June 19. In Texas, we celebrate the day the slaves were emancipated here. Yes, Texas slaves didn't find out they were free until two years, six months and nineteen days after most of the country. No, in my home we don't bust out the watermelon and cut a jig. We do watch old black movies like Stormy Weather or Green Pastures and eat a "Soul Food" style meal on that day.

June 27th is National HIV/AIDS Testing Day!!! Know your Status!!! Go to find a clinic for free testing. You have No excuse not to know. Also you can read this Blog when someone straight up told me I had No Excuse.

Finally, June is African-American Music Appreciation Month. It was originally started as Black Music Month by President Jimmy Carter, who on June 7, 1979, decreed that June would be the month of black music. Since then, presidents have announced to Americans to celebrate Black Music Month. For each year of his term, President Barack Obama has announced the observance under a new title, African-American Music Appreciation Month. I will be celebrating it Outspoken_Diva Style. I will be Saluting my Favorite Singer & Pianist of All time. If you follow my blog or know me offline. You should know who this is. Also every week, twice a week I will be featuring some of my favorite music. Trust me in true OutSpoken_Diva style, you are in for a treat. So stay tuned and get to know me musically. Because if you really want to know how I feel, look at the music I am listening to. That can tell you a lot about my mood, because if you ask I will say I'm Fine.  (Yeah I stole that quote)

So that's and much more is what you can look forward to in June.

As Always, Talking to You in Adult Terms