Happy Birthday to meeeee! No not really, everybody knows my birthday is in November, but today my baby turned one.

It was one year ago after the passing of my favorite singer Whitney Houston I had an epiphany. Even though that was a very sad day for myself as well as the world. Nearly a year before that I stopped writing, literally, put my pen down and didn’t write.

I’d allowed a minor setback in my career to take away my passion for writing. It was too painful for me to write or read my work for that matter.

The same night after Whitney died I decided to write again. I realized that life is too short and I didn’t want to waste another second denying myself the joy of writing.

I was exhasted, earlier that day I spent eight hours getting my hair braided, add about three hours of crying to that and you have one drained young lady.

Tired as I was, I didn’t go to sleep until my blog was created and my first piece was up.

A very special thanks to my long time friend and old VOX Teen Newspaper colleague Jamal Branford. We had a three hour chat via Facebook selecting a name for my blog. Every name we came up with was already taken. It was way after 3 a.m. and Jamal was still at work at a Florida newspaper, but he hung in there.

Finally I remembered my friend Erin Harper’s blog http://www.allerinharper.com, that’s it, I need something with my name in it.

The light bulb finally went off and together Jamal and I created the name piecesofcobb, of course I ran it by my husband and he loved it.

Speaking of my love, Roderick, he’s been supportive since day one, always encouraging me to write. I love him and appreciate the support. He co-signs just about anything I want unless it involves dipping into our savings to bail me out.

I’d also like to thank my dear friend Shakira Webb, who was a writer in her former life I’m sure of it.

She wrote my bio in a day and I loved it, I mean who else but a true friend knows I hate sweet tea. Thank you Shakira Dear!

Lastly I’d like to thank all of my other friends, Facebook friends, family,mentors, classmates (Lithonia High, New York Times Student Journalism and Clark Atlanta University) and anyone else who reads my blog. I’m so very grateful!

Love and Blessings

Shaka