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RIP Kaelin Mykal Hampton

The day you entered this world your steps had been ordered.

With little steps you walked into the hearts of many. With few words, but meaningful action you let us know that love and kindness were deep within your soul. As you grew into the handsome young man you were destined to be, the shyness had begun to recede, you were blossoming! Sports were a highlight of your life and you were excelling! We didn’t know the giant steps you were taking were going to become hollow memories in our minds and hearts. The pace had increased and you were spreading your wings. Wings that would take you to a far away place.

A place where there is no pain, only the love and kindness you shared with us during your brief visit. Your steps were ordered, you fulfilled His plan for you. Our hearts ache, yet are filled with joyous.
The joy brought on by the happy memories our hearts.

Rest easy sweet Kaelin, we love you and miss you but we will meet again on the other side.

Absence Revealed

A little over a month ago I made a promise to myself that I would be more conscientious about my blog with the plan of posting at least once a week. Well as it does and will – life stepped in and said “whoa girl,” I’m going to keep you busy and there will be no time for blogging, paper crafting, photography, knitting or any of these things you want to do. We are only going to focus on what you HAVE to do!
It further turns out that none of these were “good” or “fun” things to do. This was life at its best because when you truly live your life you must deal with family issues, sickness and death. In the last thirty days I have found out that my mother has been diagnosed with small cell lung cancer, and while there is currently no cure it can be eradicated. Make sense to you? Not me, really. I understand the explanation offered by her oncologist that while they can get rid of these cells, there is a strong possibility that the cancer can come back in some other location.
The deeply spiritual, but not overly religious part of my being says that with prayer and a lot of positive thinking we can fight this and that is what I have to remind myself of daily.
The story doesn’t get a better here, it just gets more complicated. We receive the diagnosis on a Thursday and that Sunday I receive a call from my Dad saying he’s taking himself to the hospital based on a recurring pain that doctors have not been able to truly diagnose.
Thinking things could not get much worse I go on with the daily tasks in life only to receive a pain filled call from my younger brother that Monday explaining that he is in excruciating pain and needs me to pick up his kids after school, and by the way I’m not going to the doctor I have an important appointment at 1:30 p.m. Briefly I look at the phone with a quizzical “you’ve got to be kidding me face” before telling him to get to the doctor now and deal with the appointment later. He calls later from the doctor’s office with a possible prognosis “meningitis” probably viral and not bacterial. He leaves the Urgent Care offices with a prescription but no relief. The following day he is admitted to the hospital where he will remain for four days.
If you’re keeping up with me I have two in the hospital, one diagnosed with cancer and my sister is out of state on vacation so I’m helping everyone cope. I do have my older brother offering some support along with my husband, but the brunt is on me.
Well we get everyone out of the hospital and begin the first round of chemo for my Mom, numerous tests for my Dad who still doesn’t know the source of his pain and it appears that life will become somewhat normal.
Tragedy, however, is sitting in the slow lane idling her engine waiting to rev her motor and enter with a propulsion of speed usually allowed only on race tracks. While working at one of the last summer festivals I receive a calm, but anxiety laced call from my brother explaining that my great nephew has been in an accident and he’s on his way to see about him. No details, just an accident. I don’t know exactly where he’s going or what Kaelin was doing so my dread is subdued I haven’t panicked or really thought that it would be anything major. Maybe a few stitches, a broken bone something we could fix.
An hour or so later I receive the call that this can’t be fixed, Kaelin’s gone my brother cries, but I don’t want to believe it. He can’t be he’s only eleven! The worst fears of a family were being realized, a cherished member was gone and he had so much life to live.
So today I am trying to regain some normalcy in my life and continue on my journey.

Congratulations Lori Johnson

This post is Way overdue! I started to write this last spring when my friend and former writing group partner Lori Johnson’s first novel, After the Dance, was published and life got in the way, but timing is everything. A few weeks ago when I began a new post I saw this post and said I’ve got to get back to that and talk about After the Dance but I’m always leery of posting about things that are pretty old, I guess that’s the journalist in me.
Well congratulations are still in order for Lori as the audio book version of After the Dance was recently released and Amazon is offering a special on the purchase.

A Review

After the Dance is the fresh modern love story of Faye and Carl. The two are neighbors in a townhouse development and Johnson takes us through their courtship from the vantage point of each of the main characters.
Faye is a strong “big boned” girl in her mid-thirties with her own standards for relationships and she’s definitely not seeking a long term arrangement. As the fellas are often accused of, Faye is ready willing and able to “hit it and quit it”, allegedly with no regrets. Here’s a little excerpt letting the reader into Faye’s view of relationships as she explains her single status, “Yeah, I’ve heard it all before and really couldn’t care less. It’s not hard to get a man – if that’s what you want. I just don’t happen to want one – not to keep, anyway. To me, having a man is about as emotionally satisfying as having a fish in an aquarium or some other kind of pet. I’m not into pets. That’s not to say that I don’t have, well, certain needs and desires.”
Carl is a forty-something brother working days at UPS and studying for his MBA in the evenings. He’s a man trying to get ahead. Recently divorced, Carl has become a homebody and good Friday evening to him is relaxing with a cold brew and watching movies. He’s also basically a good guy despite the indiscretion that led to the demise of his marriage.
The tension between Faye and Carl is evident from their first meeting, and Johnson really brings it home when Carl decides to offer his assistance to a slightly stranded Faye “Instead of thanking me with a big pretty smile and a few kinds words, she said-without even looking up, mind you-“I’m perfectly capable.” Can you believe that?! “I’m perfectly capable.” You know I wanted to cuss, man, but hey, I played it off like a gent.
I said, “Well, I can see that, Ms. Fix-it, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to have a couple more hands on the job. Or would it?” “
That’s just a taste of Johnson’s down home use of language and situations to present an enjoyable story of a modern romance between tenured adults.
So, stop by your local bookstore or library and pick up After the Dance I’m sure you’ll enjoy this debut novel as I did. To learn more about Johnson stop over to Lori’s Old School Mix.
To hear an excerpt of After the Dance, the audio version. Click here.

Farewell Ms. Lewis

It is only fitting that one of the renewed posts pay homage to Ms. Fannie Mae Lewis, an icon in Cleveland politics, who went home to glory Monday, August 11th. Ms. Lewis was small in stature but monumental in conviction and fight for the little people.
As the Council representative to Cleveland’s Ward 7 for the past 28 years, Ms. Lewis stood for those who couldn’t speak for themselves. She gave a voice to the downtrodden, the small businessman, the single mother and the working poor. With a sharp tongue and strong faith in God Ms. Lewis served the people of her community.
Monday the airwaves in Cleveland were littered with praise for the hard work she did and the void her passing would have on the community.
May she now find peace and rest at the side of Her Savior! God Bless you Ms. Lewis and we will miss you!

Renewal

Months have passed without so much as a twerp listed here on my blog and that is not a good thing. Nearly two years ago, at least I think it has been that long, I started this space to help serve as a catalyst to writing but those of you who have traveled this road with me know that it didn’t really work. There were spurts of regular postings with some good feedback letting me know that I’m not writing to space. In the end I just kept letting life and some level of fear interrupt me. I seek to change that with this initial re-posting.
Part of my dilemma has been understanding what the true purpose of the site would be. I don’t want it to be a soapbox where I rant and vent about my life, but from time to time I will find it necessary to discuss some of the adventures in my life. The other problem I have is that I don’t know if I necessarily want to publish to the site some of the pieces that I am working on – both fiction and non-fiction, but I will attempt to share some things that I think are noteworthy.
All in all I think we will learn and grow together. I plan to be more diligent and post at least once a week and I won’t be afraid to post something that is not necessarily news in the journalistic context because if you didn’t know an event took place until you stopped by here it really is news.
The journey begins anew. Look forward to a few book reviews and posts on the ongoing saga of “Street Lit vs. Literary Fiction.”
I hope you will take the journey with me and leave a comment or two to let me know someone is reading!
Ciao