This year’s birthday is dedicated to Roberta Flacks rendition of Afro Blue.
I didn’t plan it that way, But spirit had intentions.
I bought Quiet Fire by Roberta Flack years ago just because the cover stopped me. I wasn’t searching for her. But maybe she was already speaking to something I hadn’t uncovered yet.
When she passed on my mother’s birthday, Instagram turned into a digital altar. Tributes, clips, old songs I thought I forgot. That’s when I heard Afro Blue. Not as background music. Not as nostalgia. But as prophecy.
I played it over and over until it settled in my chest. Then I found the version by Robert Glasper and Erykah Badu. That one didn’t ask for permission. It pulled me under. It taught me how to sit still. How to hear what hurts beneath the melody.
Those songs became the rhythm I prayed to. They stitched me together while I was writing Whispers in the Garden. They reminded me of who I was before the world tried to make me quiet.
So this year, I’m honoring the sounds that saved me. The women who carried them. And the version of myself that rose with every note. Thank you to every post and reshare that’s drifted through this frugal social media platform and landed upon my lap. I will be responding to everyone individually, thank you for helping me feel and be seen today!
-Ree
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