It’s been a while since I’ve indulged in a one-night stand. Truth be told, when I started hearing about flesh-eating STD’s capable of devouring your entire body in 33.4 seconds, I decided to leave the one-nighters to you more adventurous types (I’m kidding, but not really.) Just because I’m officially out of the game though, doesn’t mean I can’t still acknowledge this as a big part of some of your dating realities.

Lord, grant me the strength to always honor my gift of self-expression. But if I ever fall short and it’s taken away, I pray that I’m still able to learn from the thoughts and honest expressions of others—particularly as it relates to love and relationships.

I ran into a beautiful young lady today, who after a brief conversation, began to lament about the fact that way too men appear to be put off by her success, and ultimately her independence. I could tell that this was really getting to her, so I gave her my card, and asked her to visit my site.

Looking back over my relationship resume, I can safely say that I’ve done my fair share of things that have caused me embarrassment in the name of impressing a girl.

It’s been a while since I’ve shared this piece, but I have this sneaking suspicion that at this very moment, someone needs to read these words. I pray that you see the heart behind them, and that they mean as much to you, as they did to me when I wrote them.)

There are a lot of things that I hate in this world. Politics. Crime, Racism, VH1 Reunion shows … my life would literally and figuratively be so much better if those things were effectively eradicated. But above all of that, there is one thing that stands alone as the most heinous act that could ever happen to me or anyone else for that matter…

You’d be hard pressed to find someone who in 2011 remains unaffected by the single parent phenomenon. Whether it’s you, your mother, your sister or a close friend, there’s a good chance that someone in your life is currently dealing with the delicate obstacle course known as single parenthood.

A close friend was recently hit with a disturbing amount of bad news. Now, it wasn’t the death of a loved one or a terminal medical diagnosis, but it sure felt that way—at least it did to me. As she cried to me over the phone, the knots in my stomach tightened to the point where it began to cut off my circulation, making it hard to breathe as she poured her heart out.

I haven’t been myself lately. But you don’t need to hear it from me, as I’m sure you could already tell. For the past few months, there haven’t been many instances where I’ve shared my writing to the masses. Lately, it’s been a tweet here, or a Facebook post there … but none of that would make you sit back and say, “dang, he did that.”

Find me a man who has been in love, and I’ll find you one who’s made countless relationship mistakes. Now as much as I would like to profess our faultlessness in all things love related, that couldn’t be further from the truth. As men, we mess up … it’s as simple as that.