MY FUNNY VALENTINE

Ok. I know what you're thinking..... Valentine's day was quite some time ago to be writing about it now.

I do understand that, but I am just now getting the time to sit down, and share my story with you. Calia keeps us on our toes and when we are not on our toes we are at work. That's how it goes down when your a parent in the NYC.

Oh well, but enough of that. My last post was about how we did the Dr. Oz show and my journey to getting healthy and losing weight post pregnancy. So far that has been going good. I am able to fit some of my old clothes again, but I still have a way to go. I am on Weight Watchers and it has literally changed my life! I am starting to post video's to my Facebook page about my experiences and we are going back to the Dr. Oz show this month. So we will keep you posted on that soon enough.

Right now, I want to tell you a personal story about Valentine's Day weekend and tell you why this Valentine's day was so extra special.

Last year on Valentine's day I was pregnant with Calia. About three months to be exact. I had just left a position at a celebrity organization and my husband and I were planning to spend a nice romantic/ sentimental inexpensive evening together. After all, we had a lot to celebrate. Another year of happily married life, and the expectation of a baby on the way. We felt truly blessed.

Just weeks before I had made a decision to leave this job and change my focus for a while. Although I admit it was a tough decision I know I made the right decision. However, I will never forget the day before Valentine's day I received the nastiest most bizarre e-mail I ever read before in my life. It was sent by " Sasha Fierce" and the subject was " Ugly B*tch". To this day I will never know why I even opened the e-mail up. I guess I was curious to see what this was about. I mean was it spam? Who would send spam like that? Beyonce??? Or some psycho wanna be Beyonce???? I didn't really know.

So I opened the e-mail and it was definitely meant for me since my name was in the e-mail spelled correctly and everything. So then I was really like....OK. As I read the message I felt like I had been stabbed in the chest because the words were so hate-filled. It basically said negative things about me but then this person cursed my unborn child. That set me off. I was numb and frozen for a min and then I gave it to GOD.

I must say, when someone goes to the extent of going out of their way to disrespect and curse something that is a precious gift- an innocent life, that is beyond imaginable. It was so vivid to me because it took a lot for me to block that situation from my mind. I mean my child wasn't even born yet. We didn't even know that we were having a little girl yet. It was completely disturbing and hurtful. Whoever this was knew I was having a baby and they were really trying to get at me for some reason. I mean I must have really upset them somehow. I went over it again and again trying to figure out who was possessed enough to do something like that.

Once I got over it, I managed to go on and enjoy Valentine's day, but I never forgot about that incident.

As you know, when Calia was born we were so happy and so thrilled that we had received such a precious gift. One thing we had decided to do was to have her blessed at our church.

Personally, I wanted to have her blessed when she was still quite small because the pastor lifts her up and I wanted to be sure she was light enough to be lifted up. The other issue was having family and friends there to be apart of the event so we could share in it together and enjoy it all. We wanted a time when all who wanted to come would be able to. My husband and I attend a historical and internationally known church in Harlem. We knew whatever we decided to do, we would have to take a class to gain the full understanding of what the blessing ceremony was about. Therefore, we had to factor that as well into the equation of the time frame that Calia would be blessed.

Eventually, it came to be that the designated day Calia would be blessed would be the day before Valentine's day.

I really didn't realize it until all the sudden as the date approached I was reminded of the message that was sent to me on that same exact day the previous year. So as you can see, when we marched down the isle with Calia in her blessing gown with one of her Godmother's and the Reverend lifted her high in the air for her blessing it was like healing water flowed over my soul.

It was so amazing although I must admit Calia was miserable in that get-up. When it was over she was ready to take that contraption of a dress OFF!

It was truly a lovely blessed day! I was so touched to see the friends of mine that came out to share the moment with us and Calia's two grandmothers came up and spent time. After the ceremony, we went out to dinner where another friend sang her heart out with a live band and to this day, I think it was one of the most special times I have had in my life.

Now. when it comes to Valentine's day.... that's the funny thing. You know that's when you want to get all lovey dovey smoochy smoochy. But I can't say it went down like that at all!!! First of all, Valentine's day when you are a parent can be a whole other thing! LOL.

My husband had flowers delivered to my job and I had a special custom made basket sent to his ( wink wink) LOL. But with baby in family in the house all I can remember is sipping rose and watching the reunion of the Real Housewives of Atlanta and laughing hysterically at NE NE saying "Bloop Bloop Bloop Bloop" LOL! HAHAHAHA!

So there you go!

That is the story of my blessed and funny Valentine. Never a dull moment. Well. until next time which is the best time!

Love,

Mari