It's weird when I am in Portugal to see other black people. I sometimes feel overwhelmed in places that are almost homogeneously white. I am stared at as I walk through the small towns and villages, and it makes me want to proclaim that we are all the same species, created in God's image. My... Continue Reading →
Growing Past the Playing Cards All Day Phase
Gemma looked at the cards in her hands as she played bid whist with her friends in the Bridge Club on Fifth Street. There were few events in her life more satisfying than "running a Boston" on her opponents. She lived for each time she and her partner won every hand. She would jump up... Continue Reading →
Waste of Time: Can You Tell A Story In
Sharon looked at the still and unspeaking man who resembled a waxwork of a date. Trying to find true love using an algorithm to elicit the razzle-dazzle of those first moments of attraction was not working for her. Written for "Can You Tell A Story In..." from Esther Chilton. This week's limit is 38 words,... Continue Reading →
It’s the Unkept Promises that Cause Children’s Hearts to Hurt
I can still hear my father over the phone, making promises to come and spend time with my sister and me. He had a lovely baritone voice, and when he laughed, his whole body seemed to shake with mirth. I adored him, even though I probably only spent ten days of my entire childhood with... Continue Reading →
The Ideal Home is Filled with Love!
The Echota State Historic Site, Calhoun, Georgia I know the question probably pertains to the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and other decorative aspects of a house. But all of that doesn't really matter if there is no love in the house. If the people who share a home, or even one person with perhaps a... Continue Reading →
What Does Fellowship With God and Others Really Mean?
I wanted to understand the meaning of fellowship as presented in the Scriptures and sung about in churches. A song we sang in church when I was little was What a Fellowship, and I always wondered what that word meant, but I never researched it until the last few days. I was reading the book... Continue Reading →
I Used to Think I was Ordinary, But No More!
Paris, France, May 2024 As a black woman raised in the South in Tennessee, I thought that I was an ordinary person, nothing special about me. I was told that I would probably live my whole life in the South, never going beyond the boundary of my hometown. I was also someone who loved books... Continue Reading →
Thank Goodness Some Nicknames Don’t Stick!
As a little girl, my nickname was Baldy. It seems that as a toddler, I contracted some kind of head rash that meant cutting off all of my hair. So, Baldy became what people called me, from aunts and uncles to neighbors. I must have been in the third or fourth grade before I even... Continue Reading →
When Getting Old Isn’t Pretty
I was a teenager during the 1960s when the world was changing rapidly. I witnessed the Flower Power movement, protests against the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Gay and Lesbian Movement. I was a feminist before I had a name for it. As a girl who had to clean house after school,... Continue Reading →
A Good Book Will Ruin a Good Night’s Sleep
Needless to say, I suffer many a night without ample sleep because I can't rest until I know the end of the story or the culprit. With bookshelves full of hardbacks and a Kindle with over a hundred books, I will be missing a lot of sleep. I have learned not to start a Daniel... Continue Reading →
Help from Heaven 