Tea began as medicine and morphed into a beverage of choice!
I don't quite remember when I fell in love with tea but I do remember the most 
Until recently I had never drank Peppermint Tea made with loose leaves. And Honestly, I will probably never go back. The freshness of loose Peppermint Tea cannot be denied. When I open the can of 
I love to read! Inside a book I escape into someone else's life. There is something wonderful about turning to the next page of a wonderful story. Something intoxicating about the smell of the book and the story it brings to life. Reading brings me joy, and these days with my health in the balance, I find solace in my books.
My bestie Luke said it best in the "Diva," Documentary on me, there is never a day when I wake in the morning and feel good like everyone else. I have bad days every day, it's just the manner of degrees. For sure I only tend to complain when the bad becomes really intrusive. You would think after 20 years I would be used to it; this is the way of my life. But how does one get used to a darkness that never seems to fade? I'm not sure that you do.
People tell me often that they couldn't live with this disease and I say, "You really don't know what you are capable of until you are in it." In the 5 years before I made that transition to AIDS I used to pray often, "God don't let me get AIDS." It was a simple prayer that went unanswered and yet I continue to keep my faith and love God with all of my heart. So here I am muddling through yet again and trying to keep my wits about me. Trying to live with dignity inside of the impossible.
So last night I surrendered to the reality that my body is in pain overload and pain has a way of making you crazy. So I started taking my medication to help with the nerve pain and now I'm adjusting to those side-effects, slow, groggy, drowsy; both in movement and in my thinking. I added 800 mg of Ibuprofen for my endometriosis, which has nothing to do with HIV. The one issue that I have that is not about HIV, but about being a woman. The endometriosis pain feels like someone is inside of my vagina, pulling down my ovaries, no joke.
Hypothetically, with a good T-Cell count one should not have any OI, but that's just not true. Magic Johnson said it best, "Everyone's HIV is different." It's true, how HIV will affect a person will vary. Think about me in terms of a long-term survivor, At one point my T-Cell was 8 and my Viral load was 400,000, for sure long term damage was done. Just because they can slow HIV down, doesn't mean they can reverse what has been done.
Thank God that hasn't happened, i.e., genital herpes. My last round of IV medication was 34 days and I thought that I was gonna lose my mind.
But I am having a herpes outbreak in the opening of my butt... Yes I said butt and yes it hurts like hell, but I'm grateful that Valtrex the oral medication does treat this strand for me.
How did I get herpes in the ass? I know some of you wanta ask? And I've removed the herpes blogs from the website and put them in my new book, The Politics of Respectability. Well, ummm, most likely because of improper wiping when I go to the bathroom. Herpes is a touch disease. If you touch an open sore in one area and touch another area of your body you can infect yourself there too. But don't make me lie cause it could have happened from unprotected sex too. I'm not sure... Yes I just said unprotected sex, yes there. Live as long as I have you just might experience anything. For real for real. At least I can be honest *shrugs*
I also Tweet, at the end of the day I pray that what you think you know about your partner is true, otherwise you are turning your free will over to someone that can't think at the moment beyond your vagina.
Living in the impossible is not joke and no real solution beyond depending on a higher source for the fortitude that is necessary to keep your wits about you when you seem to be falling around you.
And that dime became symbolic to me. I will keep it in there forever! I understand that life ain't what I want it to be. I understand that HIV/AIDS altered my destiny, but just like Markeeda gave me that dime, God gave me an Ace in the hole, a new destiny. In my brokenness God deposited a dime into my life; Purpose for my pain! And as long as I have purpose for my brokenness, I can live in this brokenness, that seems impossible.
