I Miss L.A. Banks

My heart sank when I received the news that L.A Banks had passed away.  It sank because when my father and I found out that she was sick, we had hoped that she would get better.  And even though we knew she wasn't well, I still felt like I would see her again.

Especially since she was a bright star, she had presence whenever she was in the room, I call women who look like her glamazons because when you see her, he see the glam and at the same time, she was so tall like an Amazon woman.

I've been pretty sad about it mostly because I know she understood, from one black female Philadelphian to another.  I've seen her speak a few times and I felt like she was speaking to me.

She was an awesome, friendly force that after you heard her speak you felt like you could do anything.

I'm not in the photo but I took it.

I really feel like I just saw her because her words of encouragement meant so much to me.  I finished my first novel, The Quest to Save Xanar, after the last time I saw her at PhilCon.  

But I always remind myself of how happy I am that I actually got to meet her.  There should be more cool people like her in the world.  I wish I had met her earlier or sooner, I realize that would make the loss greater.  At the same time I feel as though I've gained more perspective and understanding by meeting her those few times and listening to her.

I still may be in shock.  I just absolutely knew without a shadow of doubt in my mind that I would see her again.  Her passing away was never a possibility to me.  I always try to mentally prepare myself for such things.  But all I could say when I got the news was, "Wow."

I'm just glad that I got to meet her, more than once, and that she chatted with my father and myself through her facebook and twitter.  But most of all that there's no more pain and that she will not ever be forgotten.