My Nugget

        I started writing this a few days after I found out I was pregnant. Now I’m writing this after spending hours in the ER to find out you’re gone. I spent my whole life saying I never wanted kids, then the moment I found out I was I was so excited. By the end of the night I knew you’d be either a miss Lennon Amira (or Lennon Sarai) or William Dearron. Now my heart feels crushed. Who knew a person I had never met before could make me feel so many emotions at once. I know this is the story of many women and I’m not alone, but at the same time I’d imagine things would be different for me. I looked forward to my belly. I looked forward to holding you for the first time, watching you bond with your dad and sister. I looked forward to first steps, first words, and first days of school. I don’t know how many losses in my life I can take. I know it was only two months, but I feel like I lost a child. I’m just devastated. I feel like it’s my fault. I know it’s not, but that doesn’t make it any easier. I keep wondering how I could’ve prevented this. No one tells you how soul crushing a miscarriage is, but it is. I know that everything happens for a reason, but in this moment the universe sucks, in my eyes.
         I do find some peace that when I entered the ER a dragonfly flew by me to the entrance. Maybe it was my dad telling me it would be OK. I don’t feel OK, but I know it will be. I hope I get another chance one day. A chance to be a mom, but you will always be my first. The one that filled me with so much joy, in two months, that I could be a mommy.
My original post:
       Since I’ve now shared my biggest news with my mom I can now share with you. May 2019 I’ll have a little one joining this crazy planet. Although I’m sharing this sometime in November I am now writing this in late September exactly a week after finding out I was already five weeks. My initial reaction was just content. We had our discussion about our next moves, but everything positive. Content.
        A week later I’ve freaked out about what I’ve been eating, have I stressed too much, can my body wash/facial cleansers affect my Nugget?, and all other things I’m sure new moms freak out about. As the days go on I’m starting to freak out about things much deeper. Things like: Will I suffocate his or her dreams like I felt like mine were? Will I keep them from growing? It’s not about cuts, and scrapes, and bruises. Those heal. I’m worried about any possible unintentional emotional pain. If Nugget comes to me and says they’re trans or gay am I really an ally the way I feel I am? How do I shield them from the people out there who cause harm to lgbtq kids? Then the big elephant in the room. I’m going to give birth to either a little black boy or little black girl. How do I keep them safe from the people who will hate them for the color of their skin? How young is too young to have the talk about how we have to be extra careful around police? That we have to work twice as hard to get half as much? How late is too late to have that talk? What if Nugget is a girl? How do I prepare her for the creeps she may run into? How to be on high alert, because unfortunately in this society a woman’s body is not her own. How do I shield him or her from bullies? I can teach them all day everyday how to keep their heads high and stand up for themselves, but that still doesn’t mean bullying doesn’t bruise self esteem and confidence.
        Nugget won’t know what it feels like to walk into a Toys R Us and be blown away. Kids today don’t get to hold on to their innocence for long like we did. They know too much too soon. How do I keep stressors away from you and let you remain an innocent child throughout your childhood years and not take on adult problems?
        I had to think about how this would change me and your dad. One piece of advice that has always stuck with me was from an old friend who had a child and married pretty early. She told me that once her daughter was born her relationship took a nosedive because she became more focused on her daughter. She said she had to find the perfect balance between her daughter and her marriage. That it couldn’t be just about your kid. You have to make time for your partner as well. I hope that for us because I love your dad very much. You’re both my world. Without your dad there would be no you. I hope to give you an example of loving parents. I want you to grow up with the vision of nothing but love and teamwork. I think that’s crucial for you. It’s crucial for any little Nugget out there.
…. I never finished this. Goodbye, our Nugget

Blowing Smoke

Blowing smoke
On empty breath
Flashing words with no meaning
You suffocate on faded messages
Spreading signals no one sees
Black lungs
A last exhale
Still not heard
Just words that mean nothing
Being muttered on empty breath


-Asia Aneka Anderson, Blowing Smoke 2018©
"Below A View" 2018©
Photo: Asia Aneka Anderson

Tragic Best Friend Tales #4

        In light of a few things going on in my life dealing with relationships I figured I do one of these since its been a while.
        I want to talk about friend G. Unlike my other tales this is about me. No need to freak out and think “Oh God what kind of story is she conjuring up for me.” Just relax. G was, has, and is an amazing friend. We have the type of friendship where we don’t need to talk all of the time, but we’re always there for each other. Correction: She’s mostly there for me. Myself for her could use some work.
        We’ve known each other at least 20+ years and in all of those years I don’t think I’ve been a good enough friend to her. None of that was intentional, of course, but somehow that would always be the outcome. One of the first instances that I knew I hurt her was the year I graduated high school. I was a year before her and I remember her wanting to come to the graduation, but all my tickets went to family members. Actually I was pissed because an aunt bowed out last minute because of a disagreement with another family member. That was a ticket that could’ve been hers. What happened next was totally my fault. I had a small graduation party a few days later. Nothing special. It was only family and one close friend. I didn’t invite anyone else. I didn’t see it as a big deal, but I ran into a teacher of ours a few weeks later and she expressed to me how hurt G was about that. I felt terrible, but not terrible enough that it didn’t keep happening.
        This is the mistake I keep making and my poor reasoning or attempt to understand and explain why this keeps happening. I constantly put people above her who are not as loyal a friend as her. G’s friendship has never wavered with me. The friend I invited to the party instead of her is actually S from my second Tragic Best Friend Tales. A girl, who when I finally got tired of her lies and manipulation, called me a “nigger” cause I refused to fall her bullshit again. Why did I put S over G? There is no one thing I can pinpoint. S was a little more rough around the edges. She challenged authority, had no issues about being the loudmouth and different. I convinced myself that I had more in common with her than anyone therefore I valued her friendship more. My lousy excuse as to why this happens? I’m not sure if it’s because I’m older than G or that she seemed to be the closest thing to pure that I know, but I felt like I should’ve been an example for her and I wasn’t. I’m not sure why that’s my logic, but it is what it is.
         I reflect on my friendship with her and how I’ve treated her as I deal with more recent relationships where I’ve made myself vulnerable around these friends only to not feel that friendship not reciprocated. I can look at these friends and remember being there for them through break ups, late night calls, encouraging them, being with them through big moments in their lives, etc. I take to heart the times people are there for me through darker times not the happy moments (although you obviously want friends there through the good times as well). When look at my most recent dark moments these people weren’t there. When I lost my home and everything I had these friends hype me up as if I had a support system, but when it came down to it, I was alone. G didn’t even know the depth of it because I never told her. I felt that if I told her I’d feel even more like a failure, again because I felt like I looked like someone who should’ve had her shit together and I don’t. So she had no idea the emotional roller coaster I was going through. When I lost my father these other friends I heard very little from if at all, nor did they visit me or attend the funeral yet even though G lives out of state now, she sent me a long handwritten letter to show how much she cared. When it came to these friends if there were times I couldn’t be there for them or chose something else I got shunned, talked about, and given the cold shoulder even though when I was going through the roughest times in my life (ESPECIALLY the death of my dad) I still had the time to makes excuses for their absence.
        I don’t deserve G. I truly don’t. I’ve had many friends where we’ve had falling outs, but never with her. I’ve never in my life felt wronged by her, yet I’ve not been the best friend that I could be. There’s lots of traumatic things that I never even knew she went through until she expressed it in her writing and I felt terrible. Why wouldn’t she confide in me? Then I’d have to remind myself, “why would she?” I wouldn’t if I was her. I really wouldn’t. I make this my vow to be a better friend to G. It’s what she deserves.

- Asia Aneka Anderson

The Ramblings Inside My Creative Mind: The Fuckboys Are At it Again

        I came across a post on Facebook that I found a bit troubling. It wasn’t that this post, in particular, was triggering, but that many exist like it and it’s purpose is to solely do one thing: shame women.
        There’s plenty of memes floating on Instagram that people get a kick out of that will shame women for wearing too much makeup, having fake hair, being promiscuous, using Snapchat, what her vagina should smell like, what superficial things she should bring to a relationship, the size of her ass, etc, etc, etc. I could keep going for days. I’m not quite sure what I find saddest; the women who piggyback off of this type of thinking or the men who actually believe this no matter how vastly incorrect some of it may be (for instance the men who believe that if a woman sleeps with multiple men it changes the size of her vaginal wall or that vaginal discharge isn’t normal.)        In this day and age, why do people 40 and under keep pushing this negative image of women? We can’t win. If we have our makeup done to the gawds, eyebrows fleeked out, that Fenty contour on point, and a highlight that would make an angel cry we get called fake. Then comes the memes of “Take her swimming on a first date” or that we’re catfishing. Yet if we leave the house with just putting on Chapstick then we look like bums or plain. We can’t have close cut hair cause then we’re called men. If you have extensions in then we’re, again, lying or bald. We can’t be too fat, too thin, too dark, too light, hair not short, hair not long. God forbid you wear too many clothes and Lord have mercy on your soul if you wear too little. You can’t have more than a few past sexual partners, but also please don’t be a virgin, and even more confusing to add, if you suck dick you’re a goddess but if you don’t you’re childish.
        I know it’s all fun and games and there’s always the dude to comment “It’s just a meme” when you call them out on it. That’s fine, but to some it’s not just a meme. The girl who is wearing a wig may have alopecia or just went through chemo. The girl who is too fat was probably proud of herself earlier that day for losing 15lbs. The girl that is too thin could be battling an eating disorder. The girl wearing “too much” makeup probably has dreams to be a makeup artist. The girl who doesn’t like oral sex may have a had an ex who pressured her into sexual acts she wasn’t ready for. We all have a story. Some cut deeper than others.
        Men don’t know what it’s like to be a woman and have our whole lives and bodies verbally and visually ripped to shreds. It’s a shame that even some women seem to not know as well. There’s not as much sisterhood as we would like to believe there is when it comes to things like this because even we deal with a toxic masculine outlook on certain things in our society. We call each other sluts if we have multiple sex partners, but don’t bat an eye when a man behaves the same. We bash each other for excessive use of makeup as if most of us don’t have a makeup drawer or bag, and who really gives a damn what someone else has on their head?
       My point in all of this is, If you feel beautiful wearing every single makeup item you have or just mascara, I support you. If you want to play around with Snapchat and take 32 pics of yourself with the teddy bear ears, I support you. If you have weave in your head that’s past the crack of your ass, I support you. There is no one way to be beautiful. Be as extra as you want to be or be as natural as they come. If you feel comfortable and beautiful that’s all that matters. Don’t let these internet fuckboys who don’t even have the slightest clue of where the clit is determine what your beautiful is.

-Asia Aneka Anderson, 2018©