My mother got on a plane last night to go to a place many can only imagine to get there. In essence it was a chance of a lifetime. She should have arrived earlier since it was an 18 hour flight from New York to Israel. For my T13 I am listing 13 Places I want to see/visit before I meet my maker.

1. Hawaii



2. Africa

3. Austria

4. Paris

5. Haiti (My husband’s family is from there and it’ only right to allow my children to see where their family began. I also need to bring them to Jamaica, because that’s where I was born and my family began there as well.)

6. Boston (I hear they have great crab house. I love seafood especially crabs and lobsters.

7. Brazil

8. Figi

9. Spain

10. Italy

11. Greece

12. England (I just love the way the people there speak. I have cousins who moved there and their accents are so mesmerizing.)

13. Canada (Niagara Falls)

My mother got on a plane last night to go to a place many can only imagine to get there. In essence it was a chance of a lifetime. She should have arrived earlier since it was an 18 hour flight from New York to Israel. For my T13 I am listing 13 Places I want to see/visit before I meet my maker.

1. Hawaii

2. Africa

3. Austria

4. Paris

5. Haiti (My husband’s family is from there and it’ only right to allow my children to see where their family began. I also need to bring them to Jamaica, because that’s where I was born and my family began there as well.)

6. Boston (I hear they have great crab house. I love seafood especially crabs and lobsters.

7. Brazil

8. Figi

9. Spain

10. Italy

11. Greece

12. England (I just love the way the people there speak. I have cousins who moved there and their accents are so mesmerizing.)

13. Canada (Niagara Falls)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

Making a Difference

And that has made all the difference

To all that I am and all that I sought to be

I am not JUST the mother of three children

Or a wife of a loving man

But I am a woman wanting to make a difference

The type of CHANCES Harriet Tubman took

While leading those that looked like you, her and me

To freedom and salvation, breathing deep sighs of relief

The FAITH Rosa Parks had in her God

Who allowed her to sit where she wanted to

After paying the same fare as everyone else

The LEADERSHIP skills of Dr. King

He knew violence would never allow

The bell of FREEDOM to ring.

Those three are among many

Who paved the righteous road leading to equality

Yet today we still have sisters and brothers

Claiming to be held back by the white man running the government

In my mind, I’m sorry I don’t BELIEVE this is the truth

It’s up to each person to choose the correct fight

Do you go down the beaten path?

Or the one with the soil still freshly tilled?

Pick the road less CHOSEN.

When you get to the crossroads

Look for my bare feet imprinted into the soil not yet walked upon

I want to make a difference

I feel the change is coming

Can’t tell you where or when

But I know in the history books to come

A paragraph stating my little donation to the world will be there

Look carefully

I promise it will be there

See I won’t complain like the others

I will make a difference.

My new name is change.

Today I cried for the May Boatrights and the Lily Owens of the world. When I read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, I loved the story not just because it was well-written, but because there were many lessons to learn. However, as I watched the movie and I saw May’s face when she found out what happened to Zach, I realized something…I am like May in one specific way.

I carry the weigh of the world on my shoulders. I am sad more times than I am happy. I try not to watch the news, but I do and hurt for everyone who was hurt or hurting. This past weekend I felt like someone stabbed me in my legs when I found out about Jennifer Hudson’s mother and brother. Then today I was stabbed in my heart for her seven year-old nephew. That poor baby didn’t do anything but eat and be merry and someone took his life.

Lord, what has happened to the world? I heard that a 22 year-old man wants to kill Obama and Bush. I also heard on the radio that a group in Tenn. was caught plotting to kill Obama, shoot 88 people and decapitate 14 more.

What a world we live in. This is the place where I am raising two African American males and one female. What in the world am I suppose to think every time I let my children out of my sight. I remember in Beloved when the mother killed all her children rather than let them be sold off to another slave master. (I may have the details a bit messed up, it’s been quite sometime.) Is this what it’s come to? I watched the news today an heard a lady drove all the way from Georgia to Nebraska to drop her son off at a hospital so no one would ask her any questions. He is 12 years old and she walked away from him. Yes, he was on probation and in a lot of trouble, but get help not quit. Lord, my God what is happening? Then to see T. Ray walk away from Lily and say “good riddens.”

We all need a “wailing wall” like May’s wall. Maybe then some of the hatred in the world would be cut down a little bit. Until then everyone pray to whichever God you serve. The state of the world needs all the prayers it can get.

Making a Difference

And that has made all the difference

To all that I am and all that I sought to be

I am not JUST the mother of three children

Or a wife of a loving man

But I am a woman wanting to make a difference

The type of CHANCES Harriet Tubman took

While leading those that looked like you, her and me

To freedom and salvation, breathing deep sighs of relief

The FAITH Rosa Parks had in her God

Who allowed her to sit where she wanted to

After paying the same fare as everyone else

The LEADERSHIP skills of Dr. King

He knew violence would never allow

The bell of FREEDOM to ring.

Those three are among many

Who paved the righteous road leading to equality

Yet today we still have sisters and brothers

Claiming to be held back by the white man running the government

In my mind, I’m sorry I don’t BELIEVE this is the truth

It’s up to each person to choose the correct fight

Do you go down the beaten path?

Or the one with the soil still freshly tilled?

Pick the road less CHOSEN.

When you get to the crossroads

Look for my bare feet imprinted into the soil not yet walked upon

I want to make a difference

I feel the change is coming

Can’t tell you where or when

But I know in the history books to come

A paragraph stating my little donation to the world will be there

Look carefully

I promise it will be there

See I won’t complain like the others

I will make a difference.

My new name is change.

Today I cried for the May Boatrights and the Lily Owens of the world. When I read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, I loved the story not just because it was well-written, but because there were many lessons to learn. However, as I watched the movie and I saw May’s face when she found out what happened to Zach, I realized something…I am like May in one specific way.

I carry the weigh of the world on my shoulders. I am sad more times than I am happy. I try not to watch the news, but I do and hurt for everyone who was hurt or hurting. This past weekend I felt like someone stabbed me in my legs when I found out about Jennifer Hudson’s mother and brother. Then today I was stabbed in my heart for her seven year-old nephew. That poor baby didn’t do anything but eat and be merry and someone took his life.

Lord, what has happened to the world? I heard that a 22 year-old man wants to kill Obama and Bush. I also heard on the radio that a group in Tenn. was caught plotting to kill Obama, shoot 88 people and decapitate 14 more.

What a world we live in. This is the place where I am raising two African American males and one female. What in the world am I suppose to think every time I let my children out of my sight. I remember in Beloved when the mother killed all her children rather than let them be sold off to another slave master. (I may have the details a bit messed up, it’s been quite sometime.) Is this what it’s come to? I watched the news today an heard a lady drove all the way from Georgia to Nebraska to drop her son off at a hospital so no one would ask her any questions. He is 12 years old and she walked away from him. Yes, he was on probation and in a lot of trouble, but get help not quit. Lord, my God what is happening? Then to see T. Ray walk away from Lily and say “good riddens.”

We all need a “wailing wall” like May’s wall. Maybe then some of the hatred in the world would be cut down a little bit. Until then everyone pray to whichever God you serve. The state of the world needs all the prayers it can get.

I’m in love with a thing that many others like me tend to be in love with as well. I know this is a love affair that is one sided, but how am I supposed to pull myself away from a thing that pulls at my heartstrings.

By now you may be wondering what could it possibly be? I am in love with paper. I love books. Yes, I know technology is evolving in. But I still need to hold a book in my hands. I one day will move on to an e-reader, but for right now I will stick with the old fashion thing.

I also have a love for writing paper. I like notebooks and pads. I have a computer, but to keep from getting distracted I will hand write my stories until I can get a gadget that doesn’t get emails or have internet access. I know there is something out there and I have already requested it as a birthday present, but for right now give me the blue inked pen and the nicely lined paper. I will write until my hands say “I can’t do this any more.” Only then will I stop.

National Novel Writing Month begins a week from today and I have already told my family I am not to be bothered. My husband has warned my children. I need to go and purchase the perfect notebook to write this years novel in. I know I have school, and I need to still be a mother and wife, however, this is the best birthday present I can give myself and it cost me nothing but time and my enjoyment.

What’s your unusual affair?

I’m in love with a thing that many others like me tend to be in love with as well. I know this is a love affair that is one sided, but how am I supposed to pull myself away from a thing that pulls at my heartstrings.

By now you may be wondering what could it possibly be? I am in love with paper. I love books. Yes, I know technology is evolving in. But I still need to hold a book in my hands. I one day will move on to an e-reader, but for right now I will stick with the old fashion thing.

I also have a love for writing paper. I like notebooks and pads. I have a computer, but to keep from getting distracted I will hand write my stories until I can get a gadget that doesn’t get emails or have internet access. I know there is something out there and I have already requested it as a birthday present, but for right now give me the blue inked pen and the nicely lined paper. I will write until my hands say “I can’t do this any more.” Only then will I stop.

National Novel Writing Month begins a week from today and I have already told my family I am not to be bothered. My husband has warned my children. I need to go and purchase the perfect notebook to write this years novel in. I know I have school, and I need to still be a mother and wife, however, this is the best birthday present I can give myself and it cost me nothing but time and my enjoyment.

What’s your unusual affair?

When I was growing up I would walk to the biggest library branch closest to where I lived. No matter which part of Jamaica, Queens in New York I lived in it really was the biggest library. They had such a wide variety of choices in books. I would go there and forget about time. Many times I would walk in the sun would be out and when I would finally decide to drag myself out of there it was pitch black outside. But that was ok with me I loved books.

As I got older I learned of book stores and bought tons of books. If I read something that was wonderful I shared it with everyone I knew. I was never wrong that they too would enjoy it. Since moving to Georgia I really didn’t know where the libraries were so I continued with my book buying habits. I would buy from the grocery store, Wal-Mart, the dollar store, and the major chains. It was bad that I worked around the corner from Borders.

Since I stopped working I have pulled back on my purchases, and found the library closest to my house. It’s the most pitiful thing I’ve ever been in. It is so small, and there isn’t that many African American books on the shelves. If I want to borrow a new release I have to wait six months before they can request it from another location. They have to be kidding me. I read stories written by any race. I could careless. But when I am looking for a specific book it needs to be there or available to me at some other way and waiting six months is not an option.

How are the libraries in your neck of the woods?

When I was growing up I would walk to the biggest library branch closest to where I lived. No matter which part of Jamaica, Queens in New York I lived in it really was the biggest library. They had such a wide variety of choices in books. I would go there and forget about time. Many times I would walk in the sun would be out and when I would finally decide to drag myself out of there it was pitch black outside. But that was ok with me I loved books.

As I got older I learned of book stores and bought tons of books. If I read something that was wonderful I shared it with everyone I knew. I was never wrong that they too would enjoy it. Since moving to Georgia I really didn’t know where the libraries were so I continued with my book buying habits. I would buy from the grocery store, Wal-Mart, the dollar store, and the major chains. It was bad that I worked around the corner from Borders.

Since I stopped working I have pulled back on my purchases, and found the library closest to my house. It’s the most pitiful thing I’ve ever been in. It is so small, and there isn’t that many African American books on the shelves. If I want to borrow a new release I have to wait six months before they can request it from another location. They have to be kidding me. I read stories written by any race. I could careless. But when I am looking for a specific book it needs to be there or available to me at some other way and waiting six months is not an option.

How are the libraries in your neck of the woods?