EBONY Love: Nia Long, Common and MyBrownBaby Bare It All!

My God, I loved being pregnant. Swollen feet, morning sickness, constipation and Mac truck-sized pre-natal vitamins aside, feeling that little body flutter against my belly, knowing that I was carrying God’s miracle—flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood—was truly one of the most incomparably incredible things I’ve ever done in my 42 years of breathing. Plus, for the first time in my life, I had boobs. And long, thick, shiny hair. And flawless skin that glowed. And nobody questioned my affinity for popsicles and Haagen Dazs and broccoli—or my penchant for mixing them all together at one sitting. And I got to walk around with a big ol’ pot belly and oversized clothes and everybody thought it was beautiful. No, seriously: I loved maternity clothes. Loved them. They fit my belly and my booty and my boobies—something that never seemed to happen, like, ever, when I had the super-curvy, flat-chested, Coke-bottle body that just refused to fit into outfits sans tailoring or rigging. That was pre-J-Lo, Buffy the Body, stretch material and PZI jeans.

I digress.

I’m reminiscing about how beautiful and super-powery and Wonder Girl  I felt pregnant because of the November 2011 issue of EBONY magazine, which features the 42-year-old, very pregnant, very nude superstar beauty Nia Long. I’m just sayin’. Take a look at the picture. Right. ‘Nuff said.

According to EBONY, the cover story on the Boyz ‘N the Hood, love jones, and The Best Man star gives readers “an inside look into her pregnancy diary, the shocking news that made her knees buckle, and how she and her partner, Ime Udoka, are handling the changes and bracing for a new chapter in life. She also opens up to EBONY for the first time ever about her humble roots, reconnecting with family in the West Indies, raising her son, finding her life mate—and about the pregnancy that wasn’t suppose to happen.

Get it, Nia—show all these young bucks how it’s done.

And after you finish reading up on Nia, take a peek at my story on reverse migration, the trend of African-Americans leaving Northern cities to put down their roots in the South. It’s a piece that’s quite personal to me and mine, seeing as my entire nuclear family made the move South more than six years ago, after the death of my mom. Nick the hubs tag-teams my piece with a story on the best places to live, see and love in the cities attracting all that Northern chocolate.

EBONY rounds out the issue with a luscious spread on X Factor judge and musical genius L.A. Reid’s Hamptons estate; a Tom Joyner-penned column on why African Americans should have Barack Obama’s back in the next presidential campaign, and—gasp! swoon!—pictures of my boyfriend, er, favorite rapper Common, who spreads the word on his life and new memoir, One Day It’ll All Make Sense.

Come on, folk—Nia, Common and a really pretty house, plus moi, all in one issue.

Cop that.

Happy hump day!