get ready--tonight is a night to remember

December 9th I turned 22.

For as long as I can remember my birthdays have always been hit or miss. With finals, holiday season and the death of my father all in the same month my day of birth sometimes simply gets caught up in the mix.

Last Friday I had an 8 o'clock final and unfortunately ran errands in a crazy ass storm that consisted of snow and thunder. That night I ended up at a holiday party since I figured all my friends would be there but I was wrong. I knew only a handful of people because most of my loves ones were tired or just didn't feel like trekking through the snow. Being a light weight to the second power and feeling a little sad on my bday I ended up drinking too much wine. Lets just say that my sexy was definitely not preserved.

The next day I recounted my birthday night to my girl Mel. I told her that all I really wanted was good food, lots of laughs and to be in the ocmpany of friends. Mel asked me not to worry and promised to make it happen. All I had to do was be ready after work to go out.

Saturday, December 10th, 2005 was one of the best birthdays and nights of my life! We went to this place called King's and shut the place down. The food wasn't all that amazing but they made mojitos just the way I like them which means a lot because not a lot of spots can make mojitos right. Our waiter was named Benjamin but since a lot of us were New Yorkers we ended up calling him Benny all night. Benny was great and at the end of his shift made sure to find us and let us know we were his best customers.

What brought the night all together was the music. The music at King's was crazy! We asked Benny who the dj was and he told us that it was actually a mix of songs put together by all the employees. We were shocked because the playlist was absolutely flawless. It was a perfecrt mix of early 90s rap and r&b. We snapped our fingers and swayed to Biggie, New Edition and Mary as we ate our food. After awhile we couldn't take it anymore so we got up and started dancing - nevermind that King's doesn't have a dancefloor.

The laughs that night were endless. There was a lapdances, a soul train line, and dancing on tables. From the staff to the other folks there that night--everyone was included in our fun.

What I couldn't get over that night is that NO ONE attempted to kill our joy. In the almost 5 years that I've been in Boston there has often been a Joy Killer or Debbie Downer around. But that night not one single person told us to get off the tables or asked us to keep it down.

As we finally put on our jackets to leave I was struck by an intense sensation of dejavu and it some how felt comforting. We ended the night two stepping out Temptation style to Kweli's Never Been in Love Before.

I truly believe birthdays can only be wonderful when spent with loved ones and when everyone feels as if it's there birthday too. Mel said it best when she said that it was sincerely the best birthday party she ever had/went to and called the whole experience "spiritual". Spiritual meaning that feeling you get when all is right and every part of your being is content.

That night's joy spilled over into the rest of my week and had me floating. Since I'm getting older and this being my last year as an undergrad, I've decided to back track and close some things in my life. I want to leave Boston with a very small list of should ofs, could ofs, and would ofs. So I'm supposed to be getting up with someone when I go home for the holidays--we'll see if that happens and what transpires if it does. I know that I can't go back and fix everything but I'll try my best.

Mel, Nissi, and I hosted a grown & sexy holiday party this past Saturday. Since we served wine and champagne in red plastic dixie cups we concurred that we don't have the grown part down yet, so it was still sexy but more like young and sexy. We dimmed the lights, put up white christmas lights and had candles everywhere to set the mood.

The holiday party was another incredible evening. Since it was a dinner party all guest were asked to bring wine/champagne/a dessert and come dressed in cocktail attire. Folks truly did it up. The dresses were banging and there were some brothers definitely holding it down.

Thanks to the cooking expertise of Mel and I the guests kept smacking their lips after tasting the stuffed clams, shrimp, green beans and teriyaki chicken we cheffed up. And Ms. Barbara definitely made some serious Haitian rice and beans.

The mix of guests was perfect because Mel, Nissi and I have several mutual friends and associates. Towards the end of the night someone decided to blow out the candles, turn off the christmas lights, move the coffee table and get the party started. Several ladies took off their high heeled shoes and it was officially on. We electric slided it, soul trained it, and two stepped it up until we were all way too tired to move.

Though I'm happy for all these wonderful moments with friends, it's causing me to miss one girlfriend in particular. I feel as if I'm losing her and it's because she seems to want to be lost. I won't front I'm defintely hurt but what can I do? I love her and I know that relationships are like waves. Perhaps this is just one of our low points.