25 Years To Life

Carmella

I don't know what I ever do without you
from the beginning 'til the end
You've always been here right beside me
so I call you my best friend
Through the good times and the bad ones
whether I lose or if I win
I know one thing that never changes
and that's you as my best friend - Brandy

Wow, what a weekend! Carmella and her children spent the weekend with me. The twins were ecstatic and it was cool to kick it with my bestest friend. Chilling in my bed, with Coronas, silk pajamas, the backdoor open, letting in the coolest breeze, while talking about everything from Michael Jackson to the dumb chicks having a Girlfight. We revisited my most painful episode, I revealed a co-conspirator role in the chaos, and she could see that I have finally healed. She's leaving me...well at least she's leaving NY.

She's got her ticket
I think she gonna use it
I think she going to fly away
No one should try and stop her
Persuade her with their power
She says that her mind is made
Up -Tracy Chapman

I haven’t talked about it much…but I am gonna miss the HELL out of her! Since she moved here from Memphis 25 years ago, she has been the counterpart of every aspect of my life. 25 years of playing Robin to her Batman, and then developing an equality similar to Storm and the Phoenix (me of course!). How do I describe those nights? She would cry because she missed Tennessee and I would promise her she was going back. Now she is going back and I’m going to spend nights crying because I miss my best friend. I am so immensely happy for her and want her to have everything she dreamed of. And which she has achieved. But I still think of those nights when she was 14 and I was 11, she made me tell her stories to help her go to sleep. Every night. And I loved it! She saw my talent early. She let me hang with her teenage friends and spying on her from the back room, I saw her first kiss. Carmella took me to my first real club. The Clubhouse on 57th and 5th Avenue, also known as the Silver Shadow. She was amazed that I danced all night until 5 am. She laughed when I couldn’t get up the next morning. She dressed me up at 17, to go to Bentley’s for the first time. Spandex dress complete with Kewpie Doll make-up (red lipstick, blue eyeliner and pink blush). Then sleeping on the 4 train because I made her stay out till 6 am again! She forced me to buy my equipment, because as she put it “you already a damn DJ, just buy the shit already so I can go to parties for free”. You know, she was right. I am just that good. There are so many experiences, late nights, arguments and even a fist fight (I still say I won! LMAO). But these 25 years with my best friend, confidante, advisor and one of the most important loves of my life have been wonderful. There’s no other way to describe it. Simply Wonderful. One of my twins has her name and her youngest bears mine as well. We may be separated by 800 miles, but we think of it as just 18 hours…less than a day…so you know we’ll be racking up plenty of mileage!

We are both spreading our wings…but we’ll fly to the same nest sometimes.

Now let me work on this book because she needs me to get her on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

I Love You Dog!


Me