Defining Beauty...

The old saying ‘Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder’…still holds true today… But when trying to define beauty…make sure you…know whose eyes be holding you… I work in an office of thirty…there are two African-Americans, myself and a woman ten years older than me…when I came to work here eight years ago I was in my early forties…real early…most of them were late twenties to my age…varying sizes and hair colors, but to all of them the standard of beauty was under thirty, skinny, large breasts and if there was some blonde hair count it all joy… I on the other hand was over forty, five feet-ten inches tall, size sixteen, could squeeze in a fourteen but honey I was going for comfort and speed…I am maintained, natural hair, loves shoes and handbags and never, ever leave the house ashy or without perfume and a pedicure…and have never since age twelve to this very day…suffered from a lack of attention from the opposite sex…but what was so fascinating to me is these women would sit next to me or stand across from me, throwing out the word fat about women who wore a size ten, old to anyone over thirty, considering injections and the like, goodness gracious…I was so damn fascinated…every now and then they would glance my way and say, “Oh that Halle Berry sure is pretty…” I would smile saying, “She sure is…” A couple of years ago, I was returning from one of my infrequent lunches with a few of them and when we unloaded they headed to the door, I had to get something from my car. I had peeped a thirty-something brother standing there chatting on a cell phone… He was a got it going on corporate type…tall, dark, foine…in a real nice suit….umm hmm…anyway…I checked out my coworkers…there was some hair swinging, and skinny behind ringing going on…he didn’t look up…I smiled to myself… They stood in the door waiting for me…I casually strolled my late forties, abundant behind to the door…he told whomever was on the phone, “Hold up…” My brother rushed over, opening the door, I nodded a thank you…he replied, “No problem, any day anytime for a pretty woman…” Those women looked at me, then at each other…then at me again…unable to see what would cause that to occur, it wasn’t in any book they had read…giggling... We climbed on the elevator, silently going to our offices…one of them just couldn’t leave it alone…she came to my office asking all kinds of questions, such as did I know him, what did he say…after several minutes I turned to her asking, “Are you trying to insult me?” Her face colored, her eyes not quite meeting mine... “Of course not…it’s just that…” “Say no more, it is just that you my dear have been sold a bill of goods about how beauty is defined. You were convinced that the young man would fall all over himself to look at you. And never at me…right?” She was purple by this time… “Well let me tell you something, that old saying about beauty being in the eye of the beholder is a great truth, and for whatever reason that young brother’s eyes were beholding me. Don’t be offended, just know this, on any given day he could have found anyone of us more or less appealing than the other. And all it will ultimately get you is an open door, and a few sweet words. We live in a very large world and in some arenas it’s your day and others it’s mine. Welcome to my world, baby girl…” I turned from her, I had work to do and I can’t spend all my damn time enlightening the masses… acVernon Menchan

Blessings...

A friend of mine told me a few months ago I was being overrun by my blessings… I smiled while acknowledging the truth of that… I have been and am blessed, over and over again… That is not to say I don’t have my trials… Because indeed I do… Sometimes I think of my early years and can relate it to an old Army commercial… There is a soldier and he makes a bold statement… “I have done more by four a.m. than most people do all day…” I can honestly say this, “I had been through more by age eighteen, than many people go through in their lives…” But we aren’t going to talk about that here and now…one day we will… What I am going to talk about relates to writing… When I started publishing my work sixteen months ago… I was as green as the rain-forest…three and a half books later I still am very lime colored…but I am learning… I joined a few literary groups…giggling... Purchased every ad that came along… Anyone selling a spot on something from forty dollars to a few hundred… I was their girl…resulted in nada…not a doggone thing… So after about six months of that… I started paying attention… Learning how to write better…listening... And then I started meeting supportive people with no agenda… I started a Myspace page… Did nothing with it…until one day…I received an invite…from Six Year Survivor…didn’t know anything about her except she was A cool sister who supported writers…didnt even know she had a review team, 'til I sent her my second book and one day it was on Amazon...what a blessing that was... Before long her support and realness…had touched me and my work… Yasmin you are my friend…and a blessing…thanks for allowing me to be a part of The APOOOBookClub review team…www.apooo.org Then one day I started a blog.... A few people trickled over, but one person consistently…Gwyneth Bolton… A sister’s whose work I loved… She would stop by my spot and send others over… Yesterday I was clicking around the dial… And there I was, my work being ‘bigged up’ by Lady Gwyneth… Thanks Sis…GwynethBolton.blogspot.com Then there are the folks who read my work…either to review or just read… Then of their own accord asked friends to carry my books in their stores… Thanks Jennifer…or decided to sell them in their stores… Thanks Lady Flava…or those who don’t know me… From a can of paint…but supports a sister anyway… I surely appreciate that… This very weekend I saw a link about African-American authors… Selling Amazon Short stories…clicked on it and lo and behold there I was my .49 cent story on full blast… I have learned that blessings are free… We get back from the universe exactly what we put out there… And patience really is a virtue… We can’t make a thing happen… We have to allow it to…thanks all… Love and Blessings acVernon Menchan Angelia