Callin' names

As the year closes...i cant help but think about the people in my life...today...who for various reasons keep me afloat.  Though ambiguity has its place...sometimes...we need to name names.

Picture this... your best friend finally got that book published that you stayed up nights listening to passages from...constantly encouraging her that she was good enough and that people cared what she had to say...you carefully open the first autographed copy...hot off the presses....you read the introduction and only slightly smile when you read..." to those of you who stayed up with me...you know who you are"...How much better would you have felt if that intro said...." to my best friend Robin...thanks for sitting up with me..."....feel me?

so...although i wont go into much detail...i do want to actually name names...why?  not sure..but it's been bubbling over in me so...i'm gonna do it.  This year has had turns that i definitely didnt see coming....and without the help of certain people in my life...i wouldve run smack dab into a cliff...well....i kinda did run into a few cliffs as a matter of fact...but there are those who helped me nurse my wounds...others who listened to me complain how bad it hurt....others who laughed with me about how ridiculous i looked in the bandages...
There are those who articulated how much they wished i'd let them help me to navigate better so that i'd avoid the cliff in the first place...those who pledge there committment to loving me through it and holding my hand (if i'm willing to take it) and mentoring me clean out of this foreign land that i made a wrong turn and ended up in...So here goes...If you read this...and you dont see your name...charge it to my head...not my heart....but if you've been here during this season...YOU KNOW IT!

Diane Abergel
Andrell Hunter
Chelle York
Amanda Yancee
Camille Lewis-Francis
Jaha Zainabu
Deana Reed
Michele James
Spencer Allen
Bernadette Moore
Felicia Edgemond
Mommy

I cant...well i wont... list specifically...each persons place...or what they've done..or justify their existence on the list if YOU dont think they should be there...but i will say...definitively...that i do thank God for each one of you...because i have learned and benefited so much...from even the smallest word...or hug...or smile....or thought that you have provoked... or action that you have inspired....Blessings to you...and should the seasons change...and you not be in my life...at least not in this capacity in the upcoming year....know that you are loved, and appreciated.