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.
But she apparently has been reading my blog because of my girlfriend since I launched it. Thank you!! My girlfriend had said to me that this person felt that I was not addressing the things that I should on my blog. My first response was gee it’s only nine weeks old. I do have AIDS and need to balance my life and health with the blog. Can’t talk about everything in nine weeks. And like with most bloggers I write where the spirit leads. But that was cool too. It seemed to me that some of the questions she asked were very old school AIDS judgmental. But at the core, I felt like she was telling me that because I had not directly answered these questions in my blog posts that I was being superficial or hiding something. Whether she meant it or not, it’s what I felt.
But anyway I got over myself and asked my girlfriend to have her friend send a list of things she wanted to know. I see it as a teaching moment. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not mad, well not anymore. If I'm truly honest, I just didn’t see the point in it all. But I’m a trooper and I want people to learn as much as they can about HIV/AIDS. So over the next month I will answer all of her questions. It fits perfectly with the current series I’m doing on sex, dating and HIV. If she keeps reading, which I hope she does, she may not always like my answer. But it’s what I have to say.
Many of the things she wanted to know, I have already addressed in some way publicly but she has never heard me speak and there may be others out there who read my blog that have some of the same questions so I will do what I can. That’s only fair. But, some of the questions are reserved for the book deal. Those reserved for the book deal will be just that (which by the way, is a tell ALL book). For Real...
I learned a long time ago to face my critics head on. I take all of my hits standing and I never fall down. At the end of the day, after you’ve done all you can... You Just Stand!! I choose to do it wearing lipstick, St. John, Christian Louboutins and eyelash extensions. And I have no apologies for it... It is what it is...
First question: “She doesn't talk about her partner at the time.” (This category had a ton of subquestions that I will address individually.) “How did she determine who it was that infected her?”
ANSWER: I donated blood in the winter of 1986. In 1987, the Red Cross diagnosed me with HIV. When I first discovered my HIV status, I was in a relationship with a guy. We had been using condoms so I know he didn't infect me or I him. I have also said this in Essence magazine and actually in an earlier blog. Side note: This was still very early in the HIV/AIDS ependemic, so I had actually started using condoms early. The problem was, I was already infected.
After I learned my HIV status, I called ex-boyfriends, but no one admitted that they had infected me. For a long time, I use to call once a year to see who was living or dead. Eventually, I did have a partner die from HIV. His name is reserved for the book deal. Since his death, I have had no other partners to my knowledge die from AIDS. So that’s how I determined who infected me. More answers will come. That's a promise...
