Happy Birthday, Ol' Hobbs

The Friday Flashpoint!

Today, May 20th, begins my 50th year on Earth! In full transparency, there were times that I feared that I wouldn't make it this far; my close cousin, R.J. Jackson, and so many of my dear friends and classmates like Christopher Henry, Maurice Holder, and Freddie Spivey, left Earth long ago and honestly, I’ve always feared an early exit, too.

But I’m here—and blessed beyond words!

I thank God for sending me to my mother, Vivian, and my father, Charles, on a sunny Saturday morning way back in 1972!

Charles and Vivian a few months before my entrance into the world

I was born and brought home to the above house in the Callen neighborhood near Florida A&M University.

I am so very grateful for God's guidance and protection over the past 50 years and, again, the parents that he sent me to who molded me into the man that I am to this very day.

When my father retired from the Army, our family moved right back to the Callen neighborhood into a house built two streets over from the original, which allows me to proudly say that I was born and raised on Tallahassee's Southside…

While my father died 22 years ago and is not here to celebrate this milestone, I am so blessed to have my mother's love and guidance and yes, a phone call this morning at the precise time, 7:08 a.m., that I was born!

So, on this day, I will allow myself to enjoy spending time with family and friends instead of rendering my usual Hobbservations on political and social hot topics. But again, God blessed me to have the parents that He chose, and today’s blog is dedicated to them, the angels on Earth who instilled in me the Scripture from the Gospel of Luke that guides me each day: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

And so it is with Ol’ Hobbs, too!