IT'S BEEN NINE YEARS, TWO FAILED RECORD deals and about a billion tears since I realized I could sing. So yeah, I've worked hard to get where I am today, but no way did I think I was going to come out the gate with the biggest female solo debut album of all time! Even if I live to be 300, I'll never forget April 9, 2002. 

I started my day by taping BET's How I'm Living in a suite at the W New York Times Square in Manhattan. My mom brought old pictures of my little sister, Shia, and me to make it look homey, but I was fronting; it wasn't my house. I'm in a different city every night-"I live in this suitcase right here," that's what I should have said!

 During my interview, I heard a commotion coming from my people in the other room. They'd just been faxed the almost-final sales figures for the week of my album's release. People had been telling me that the numbers were crazy, but I was like, "I gotta see it in writing!" It's been so long, and I'm just used to disappointment, you know what I'm saying? I think I went into shock when I read that, with 85 percent of the results in, Ashanti sold 465,000 copies. I had the No. 1 album in the country. Oh. My. Goodness. So while my mom was dancing around yelling, "My baby has the No. 1 album in the country!" I just stared at the fax. Then I went into the bathroom, screamed at the top of my lungs and then came back out to stare at the paper again just to make sure I was reading the numbers right. 

I couldn't sit there in amazement all day, though - I had work to do! Next up was an interview at Z1OO in New Jersey, then a helicopter ride back to Manhattan for an interview at KTU. Irv Gotti and some other people from my label, Murder Inc./Def Jam, met me there, and on the air, I got my final first-week tally - 502,524 copies sold. Everyone was toasting me, and friends like Ja Rule and Fat Joe called in to congratulate me, but I was still in disbelief. Listen, just over a year ago, I was sitting at home all day, watching the Cartoon Network, eating Cheerios and chilling with my then boyfriend. As I got ready for my next stop, the UrbanAid2 concert at the Beacon Theatre {where I performed alongside Jay-Z, Alicia Keys and the Roots), I kind of wished I had someone to share all this with. 

Except for Vita and Charli Baltimore, my Murder Inc. family is all guys. The dudes are like my big brothers, so I'm not messing with any of them, but it makes it hard to have a boyfriend when you're constantly traveling with a crew of guys. At UrbanAid, there were lots of fine guys, some that were real flirty-flirty with me, but it's like, I'm gonna have to break out of town in a minute! So I can definitely appreciate a cute guy like Nas, but right now, I'm just trying to be cool with people. I don't have time for much else. 

I got back to the hotel at about midnight, and was about to conk out when Irv paged me: "We're going out tonight. Get dressed." Ja was downstairs with a truck of people, and we all went to Lot 61 to celebrate my big day. The DJs were shouting us out, saying, "Ashanti's in the house, big numbers!" I had my little half-sip of Cristal {I don't drink, and I don't smoke weed. I don't like the smell, it makes me fart and it gives me cramps-I'm just keeping it real), and as I sat there with my crew, I reflected on just how lucky I am. 

Yeah, I get no sleep, ever. Sure, my schedule is so bananas that I can't go to the corner store to buy a pack of Twizzlers myself. Man, you can have your sleep and Twizzlers. It's worth it, the tears and everything, because right now, I couldn't ask to be in a better place. I'm beyond words, as far as happiness-and overwhelmed and overjoyed. For so many people to love my music is beyond my wildest dreams.