Some things will never change

Born December 16
Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England
Flo Rida

Born December 17
Jacqueline Wilson
Sean Patrick Thomas
Betty Grable
Ray Liotta
BRAD PITT
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Alejandro Sanz!!!
DMX
Rah Digga

Sorry for disappearing, guys. My internet here (Barbados) went on the fritz. Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I'm 29. It's not a secret. I'm proud of every one of my years. :)

This past weekend was my 10 year secondary school reunion. Yes, I'm a member of the Millennium Class. And we had a lime. Let me pause here to explain the word 'lime'. I'm sure for most of you, lime is a fruit that is used in seasoning foods and drinks. For Barbadians (or Bajans, as we call ourselves) lime also means to hang out. It can be a verb or a noun. So you can say 'when we liming?' meaning when are we going to hang out, or 'leh we go to the lime' which is like, let's go to the place everybody's hanging out. LIME is also the name of the big telecoms company: Landline, Internet, Mobile, Entertainment. I think they were trying to promote the concept of being friendly, instead since the service is so poor, they end up being thought of as just hanging out and not doing no work.

So anyhow, we had a lime. And we were all sitting around talking. And it struck me how much like before we all were. I mean, we're all doctors and lawyers and insurance portfolio managers. And we still talk exactly like we did ten years ago. The subjects had matured, but the tone was the same. And even though some of us had not seen one another in 2, 5 or even 10 years, it was like we'd never left.

And this is how authors should be. Their books change. The topics change. The protagonists change. The settings change. And yet, I could tell an Eric Jerome Dickey or Lesley Pearce or Meg Cabot whether or not their names were on the spine. There's a certain je-ne-sais-quoi that keeps us coming back. I hope that some day my books will have that. No matter how long it's been, I hope my readers can come right back and fall into step.