Writing helps me discover who I am. I know that when I’m willing to be transparent, my stories offer a way for others to remove their own masks. Most of my work can be found on my Blog, along with a two pieces published on the popular website Elephant Journal. Here’s a glimpse into a few of my favorite pieces:
Words--whether written or spoken--are my passion. As a child, I made my friends play “school” when they came to my house. In college, I was an English major, which led to becoming high school English teacher. When my own children were learning language, I encouraged them to use their words when they felt frustrated or angry or sad. In my corporate career, we create materials that help children learn how to read.
The words that come from within are like gold--natural, pure, and precious.
I’m living proof that our life’s stories are our greatest teachers, if we are willing to listen within for truth.
I roamed the spacious corridors of my church, alone, while my mind pressed against the teachings I learned there. My parents and grandparents served in countless volunteer roles, so there was work to be done at my church nearly every day. My grandparents had joined the Gilead Baptist church in the late 1940s, and my father was a member when he married my mother in 1958. She joined the church then, too. My mother’s provincial desires rejected her large, Irish, non-practicing Catholic family. My father’s choosing a Catholic woman from a rouge family of drinkers and gamblers furthered the Baptist mission of saving the lost.