Lately, I'm reminded of the end of my 9th grade year, when it was time for exams and all I wanted was to be done, especially clearing the last hurdle: passing my Algebra I exam. I'd gotten myself into a hole by falling behind because I was afraid of my tall, stern teacher, Mr. Calhoun. … Continue reading Solo Journey 2019: Outer Banks Bound
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Reframing: Giveaway to Gift
You see it everywhere-- Free stuff in exchange for something. Audiences on The Ellen Show jump up and down with excitement as she gives one thing away then another to her raving fans. Dr. Phil gives a book by a professional that’s under the audiences' chairs. Giveaways also come in meager forms like raffles at … Continue reading Reframing: Giveaway to Gift
The People in our Path: Unlikely Friends
Ten years ago, I gave myself a birthday gift of attending a writing conference in Greensboro—about forty minutes from my home. I didn’t know anyone going to the conference and decided to approach it like my solo journeys—praying that God would bless me and the people in my path, trusting that things would unfold as … Continue reading The People in our Path: Unlikely Friends
Family Ties: Someone’s Favorite
I've been decorating my home for Christmas and I keep finding special things that remind me of my Aunt Polly: an engraved ornament, my blue porcelain angels, woodland birds. On Saturday evenings when my husband and I watch movies, I work on my crewel embroidery pillow and remember how she taught me the stitches when … Continue reading Family Ties: Someone’s Favorite
Celebrating a Life
Today I'm remembering a solo journey I took back in 2009 to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My desire was to visit the place that had been significant for my mother. She and her cousin, Yvonne traveled there by train when they were both nineteen to prepare for work in WWII as civil servants. Throughout my childhood, Mama … Continue reading Celebrating a Life
Unless You’re Famous
The Literary Agent from Denver sat at the opposite end of the sofa from me, both of us turned toward each other for my fifteen-minute session at the writers’ conference. In his hands was the proposal for my memoir that I’d painstakingly prepared over the past six months. The last fifty pages included the first … Continue reading Unless You’re Famous
Digging Up My Buried Shame
Our group of six women sat around the conference room table of Waverly Hematololgy and Oncology, the place where I'd received my chemo years before and now participated in the first Expressive Writing Group. Mary Barnard, Office Manager and poet, was our group leader and was certified in teaching the Write to Heal program created … Continue reading Digging Up My Buried Shame
Come Ride with Me
I've always been fascinated by trains. When I was a girl, there was a freight train that crossed through our farm. Sometimes it transported logs, and most of the time, we didn't know what was carried in those boxcars. When I was in first grade, Mama and we three daughters boarded the train in our … Continue reading Come Ride with Me
The Stranger on the Bus
We stood at the West Tisbury shuttle bus stop on a Saturday afternoon in Martha’s Vineyard. I’d been experiencing that island in Massachusetts for the first time, staying in a hostel for $27.00 a night—the only way I could afford that expensive place. I’d enjoyed the morning at the Farmer’s Market at the Grange Hall … Continue reading The Stranger on the Bus
Depth of Despair
We sat in front of the television eating our barbeque sandwiches and watching Perry Mason reruns. My cousin, Linda, had loved that show since she was a twenty-year-old when it was produced in 1961. I remembered seeing it as a girl, and at the time, I didn’t appreciate how handsome Raymond Burr was—which I saw … Continue reading Depth of Despair
