i DO do magic.

this summer was awesome. i miss it already. it was my first summer ever spent as an independent adult not heading back to school or spent without my nose not stuck in some book. my first summer with a little bit of money in my pocket. it was my first summer back in the area i grew up in and had been away from for eight eye opening, page turning, horizon broadening years. highlights of the season were my dad's family reunion, the wedding of my favorite cousin, and my one sweet trip to the beach.

i realized this summer that i really have a passion for writing. like really. no, really. like if you put me in a room with nothing else in it, besides food water and a place to pee, i would probably need a pad of paper and a pen to keep from losing it. which is why i haven't abandoned this blogging thing yet. and i finally started reading my poetry at the open mics this summer. i made new friends at the open mics - people who don't guilt me for using big words sometimes, people who understand what i mean when i share my artsy fartsy side, people who are even more passionate about communication than me. i've kept up with old friends - i've spent more time with my best friends this summer than i have in the past eight years. and what's more amazing, those heffas still love me anyway! and they encourage me in my writing. i also literally stumbled upon an old college friend at the mall and was so overjoyed to welcome her sweet spirit back into my life.

i went to the sugarwater festival and saw two of my favorite contemporary artists, jill scott and erykah badu. ever since "on and on" i have been an erykah devotee - seeing her in concert was like staying awake for comet and actually seeing it flash by despite the glare of city lights - precious, and amazing. hearing jill scott sing live made me want to throw out my jill scott cd's, cause now i know that she can blow better than her tracks give her credit for, and all i want to do is experience that magic again. i also saw kindred sing, up close and personal! how cool... and i saw krs-one, LIVE, freestyling for what seemed like forever - he was so close i could spit on the center of his sweaty forehead, and i was so excited, cause i knew i was in the presence of greatness. i fell back in love with hip hop. decided to give it another chance. admitted that i've liked it all along, i was just trying to be mature by pushing it to the side, and i was just being lazy by dismissing it all to be as bad as the radio crap. i realized those beats and lyrics are a part of me. i been rediscovering hip hop ever since - i even own some cd's with rap on them now *gasp!*

oooh, and i experienced a first kiss! how cool for me. first kisses are great because they are so full of wonder and excitement and trepidation and hope. first kisses are like a child's first step. magical. the beginning of an adventure. we don't get first kisses often, so we should cherish the ones we get. even the ones from the princes that turned out to be toads, because in that moment, when he is right up on your face and you are right up in his, when your breath starts to commingling, when your butterflies start to flitting, and time starts slowing down.... oooh that's the stuff good poetry and good music and good food is made of baby! and no matter what happens after that first kiss, if it was done right, timed right, executed just right, be it sloppy and slobbery or smooth and precise, you have just witnessed the creation of priceless abstract art. it can't be duplicated. it can't be recaptured. it just is what it is. therein lies its uniqueness and its beauty.

i experienced happiness on so many levels in this my favorite season, like rocking my hair in its crinkly and fuzzy and unstraightened state for a whole entire season for the first time ever, and discovering how much i love to be awakened by sunshine. i rediscovered passions - i rediscovered parts of myself. it's funny i thought last year was my peak what with graduation and all. but this summer has convinced me that there is so much life for me to live!

i'm leaving this season feeling inspired and joyful and hopeful and excited about who i am and who i'm becoming...