Me & Beyonce

The night before she sang a stunning tribute to Michael Jackson at the BET awards, Beyonce's big red tour bus rolled into Greensboro and I was lucky enough to meet this prolific siren of screen and (musical) stage. To say that she is a legend, to say that she is beautiful, is not enough. Odd as it may seem, her show changed my perspective, even, my life. We are, in fact, the same age. We both adore L'Oreal. She on the one hand has never apologized for who she is, or how she was made. While I, on the other, have spent veritable ages scrutinizing my large nose and impenetrable love handles which are perched atop a pair of oddly large hips.

Her performance, her persona, her rockin' 10 piece all female band showed me more about beauty than I've learned in two years of beauty blogging. Watching the spectacle of music, dance, acrobatics, and theatre that intersect on Beyonce's stage, one gets the feeling that she is more than an excellent dancer, a talented vocalist and one of the most beautiful women ever made. She is, it seems, a channel. Unlike many of us who bury our talents where no one can see, criticize, or steal them, Beyonce is brave enough to lay each and every one of her gifts (not to mention emotions) before the world.

My friend Julia tells me that as a little girl, B used to sing until she couldn't sing any more to the patrons (including Ms. All about the Pretty herself) in her mother's Houston hair salon. B was born with it.

B also happens to be entirely kind and somewhat daunted by the prospect of people's reactions to her. Poor girl tried to have a normal conversation with four fully grown women who could barely speak after seeing her performance. We all settled for hugs, handshakes and one professionally taken photo. I learned on this sweaty southern summer night that beauty, in its truest form, is divinely given and decidedly unapologetic.

Thanks to Beyonce and her incredibly hard working team (including the aMAzing all-female band and hot HOT dancers) for what was one of the best nights of my life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~