Things You Don’t Know About Me

I Can Bake a Cake Over a Campfire
I use to take large numbers of teenager girls camping and hiking.   So I’ve picked up on many survivor skills like, how to start a fire without matches, tell directions with the stars, and how to pitch a tent in under fifteen minutes. But do you want to know the skill most of the young women wanted to learn after three days in the woods, how to cook desserts over a campfire.  Yes, that’s right.  They
didn’t want to eat another S’more or granola bar at the end of a long hot summer
day. So I learn how to make a pineapple upside down cake (and a cherry cobbler)
on a campfire in a Dutch oven and taught the girls how to do the same.
 
I Brush My Teeth in the Shower
I know it sounds a little strange but it makes sense.  I like to stand under the hot water and let the water relax the muscles in my back and shoulders like everyone else.  And since that can take a few moments, I decided to multitask and save water by brushing my teeth.  
 
It actually helps me brush them longer and concentrate on doing a good job.  I guess there’s something about brushing in front of a mirror that makes me feel more rushed. NOTE to my dentist: I floss my teeth while I’m waiting for the shower water to get to the right temperature BEFORE I get in the shower.

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I hate all scary movies and commercials
I didn’t like them as a teenager and I don’t like them now. Carrie, Amityville Horror, Rosemary’s Baby, and The Exorcist were movies that messed me up as a kid.  And I think any child under fourteen that says they enjoy watching scary movies is lying.  They really hate them as much as I do but they don’t want to be excluded from the older kids or their family members that want to watch a horror movie. 
 
I’ve never saw the point of being scared for entertainment.  I don’t want to be scared so much that I’m desensitized to being afraid.  When something frightens me I want my ‘fight or flight’ mechanism to activate quickly and save my life. I don’t want to be standing around wondering if the horror moment is real or fake. And when I scream for my lung out, everyone one of my neighbors and family members better come running to my rescue because I’m NOT watching some scary movie turned up too loud.
 
I Love a Man’s Back and Shoulders More Than His Abdominals 
I think this goes back to when teenage boys play ‘the shirts’ against ‘the skins’ in basketball. I remember watching my brother and his friends play at the community courts in the hot Washington DC sun. I always cheered for ‘the skins’ because they looked great.  But it was never the abs and biceps that I found fascinating; it was their strong backs because of the wisdom my grandfather imparted.
 
He explained to me the history of my ancestors, how many proud, strong black men had badly scarred backs during slave times and hid their scars from the view of others, even their family members. So when you see a man that proudly shows his unscarred back note the beauty, strength, and masculinity of his maleness. Be proud that those days are over and that no matter what the world throws at him, he’ll demonstrate his ability to bare that weight of any difficult to protect himself and his family. 

I Wanted Billy Dee Williams to be my Stepdad
He was smooth, handsome, and knew what a woman needed before she had a chance to vocalize it to herself.  At least that’s how it seemed when I watch him in his movie roles Lady Sings the Blues and Mahogany.  The fact that my mother was also riveted to the television screen whenever he made an appearance just cemented my selection was a good one.
 
Now I didn’t like that he was the spokesman for Colt 45 malt liquor or that he seemed to have more than one woman on his arm at Hollywood premieres but he was a great leading man. If Diana Ross’ character wanted him to love her so desperately and women were screaming ‘I love you, Billy Dee’ whenever he began to speak at a microphone, then he must have been doing something right. Besides, after my mother watched one of his movies she was always humming as she cooked dinner.  And any man that could make her hum around the house was alright with me. 

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***Special thanks and shout out to author Nia Forrester for highlighting my blogging efforts. She’s a woman of tremendous talent and exquisiteness and I’m proud to call her my friend.***