It’s very cold today. My body is engulfed by high-speed winds. The wind is circling around my ears and gnawing at my fingertips. The weather is not favorable. There are many days in our life where conditions are not favorable. It has become a long and exhausting day.

Taking this trip was hard but it is TIME. Yes, another ICON’s ship has sailed into the night. Her glow from life’s candle shifted as the wind-swept around the flame. The flicker of the light struggled but another strong wind caught her breath.

This moment of darkness and silence has claimed yet another ICON. DESTINATION has caught up with her. She has now boarded a cruise liner to ease her from this life of hurt, pain, and sorrow. In our hearts, we pray her spirit will be guided by an eternal beacon.

Let her soul be at rest for a pleasurable journey.

In life, some of us will run a MARATHON. The MARATHON is so rigorous with so many obstacles and hurdles to jump over. There are those who will SPRINT through life. If you’re a SPRINTER it is TIME to reflect. Don’t be in such a hurry to run a short race through THE DISTANCE.

You will meet with an early DESTINATION. When you hear someone make the comment “GONE TO SOON,” you’re beginning to understand life’s race can be shortened. Why are we in a hurry? We feel everything needs to be taken care of immediately.

How many laps can we run once the START button is pushed? Will we need to reset the start button because we have jumped the gun? Some of us will not get the opportunity to reset the start button in our lives. Will your life be a SPRINT? Can you endure the MARATHON?

A chain of events will take place on our life journey. There are TIMES when we will peek over into someone else’s life. We assume they have everything to live for. We are plagued by SHADOWING the lives of others. Our hearts are overcome with resentment, bitterness, and jealousy.

Finally, we graduated from HATRED ACADEMY. All the happiness, wealth, and power we assume an ICON lived, lies right there before our own two feet. What did we do? We stepped right over the most priceless commodity, TIME. We continued our HATRED CAMPAIGN.

This type of campaign diminishes one’s health and one’s life. The SHADOWING which is done to the lives of others has set us on a course for destruction. We yearn and grasp for what we think have made ICONS and other people successful. It blinded us and we lost track of who we could become.

We lost ourselves and we lost RESPECT for TIME. Reality is beginning to sink in. As the media reflects back on the IMAGE of the LIFE of an ICON, we realize we could never make the sacrifices in life to maintain the ICON lifestyle.

Bottom line: Never want what others have because you may not be willing to take the beat up for it.

Her music is beginning to rotate through my brain. As I walk through the stone garden, I hear her strong vocals bellow out “I Have Nothing.” The wind has picked up, my legs are beginning to weaken. The sorrow and sadness are starting to creep up on me.

I heard another rendition of the songbird voice. The tune was “I Look To You.” Many people say they never saw it coming. Did we PAY ATTENTION? She delivered a strong message in her MUSIC and in her BEHAVIOR. She went back to her gospel roots preparing for the journey home.

She was there to sing her last song with Kelly Price, “Jesus Loves Me.” She stopped in on CLIVE DAVIS, her long TIME mentor. She visited with Ray J, Brandi, and Monica. Bobbi Kristina got a chance to briefly visit with her Godfather. Brandi will never forget this birthday.

Sitting here on this stone, right at my eye level, is the DASH. From the day we are born to the day we die and have met our ESTIMATED TIME of ARRIVAL(ETA), there is THE DASH BEFORE THE DISTANCE.

The DASH is all the life one is living and what goes on in between one’s life BEFORE they run THE DISTANCE. As the leaves crackle beneath my feet, I notice on the carving of the stones there are a lot of SPRINTERS here today. I came across this magnificent marble stone.

The birth date is here, and the DASH is here, but no DESTINATION date. I wonder if the person was a SPRINTER or A MARATHON RUNNER? Was this someone who had not been found and declared dead? Maybe the person was found and no one knew the DATE of his DESTINATION.

People in our lives demand so much from us. We cannot possibly meet all their requests. When it is TIME for us to meet the demands of our lives, so much Time has been devoured. The DASH BEFORE THE DISTANCE is much shorter.

Every day from this moment on our ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL(ETA) draws near. We are so much closer to our DESTINATION. ALPHA is the beginning and OMEGA is the end. The DASH BEFORE THE DISTANCE is the life we are now living. RESPECT TIME!

A door has not closed. The door is wide open. It will give others the opportunity to reflect on their lives and make changes and seek INTERVENTION.

In Loving Memory of Whitney Houston and the Celebration of her Life.

To the Houston/Brown Family, Clive Davis her long TIME mentor/dearest friend, and the many relatives/friends who mourn the loss of their loved one.

Visit the April archives. Read Rest Peaceful My Nubian Queen.

Visit the May archives. Read Reflection of Magical Moments on Twitter, I Have Learn, Etiology Of Quality, and Giving Recognition to the Unrecognized__Saving lives.

Visit the November archives and read Smokelbg Life Class__Dedicated To Oprah.

May you find peace in my words.