I’m going to be honest with you, this year has been the bomb. From sickness to the deaths in family, to writing interruptions, because of the traumatic situations, this 2025 passage was extremely dark and rough. I kept waiting for another shoe to drop, and it always did, and they kept coming in bits and pieces. This threw me into a process of learning how to deal with the tragedies occurring in my life.
The first thing I learned is that you don’t control trauma. There is no way to run from it or to beat it over the head and be victorious over it without having faith in someone who is bigger than yourself. In my case, that someone was and still is God.
Thinking that the tide was over, on the Second Christmas Day, December 26, I received a phone call informing me that my nephew had been killed on Christmas Day. I thought to myself if anyone had told me at the beginning of 2025, I would receive notices of five deaths sprinkled out over 2025, that would pinch me in my heart, I wouldn’t have believed them. But it happened, and I am thankful that I was able to work through it and keep slowly moving forward.
As traumatic as things were in my 2025, I am thankful that gratitude permeates my life. It is now January 1, 2026, and I woke up this morning thankful to see a New Year and no snow in the area where I live. The sun is even showing itself every now and then. 🙂 I’m thankful to have that first cup of coffee, to hear my voice as I sang the first song that rose up in my heart, and to look out of my patio windows and see squirrels climbing in my trees and birds flying low between the green leaves.
Now that I have taken my first steps into 2026, let me say that I hope all my readers and friends crossed into 2026 and are looking forward to a great year.
Getting back to the title of my New Year’s article, One of my favorite passages in the Bible is the title of this blog article:
My Beloved spoke, and said to me,
Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away.
For lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone.
(Song of Solomon 2:10-12, NKJV)
Let us hope that this is so in our individual passages in 2026.
This is a Creative Non-Fiction Story that I am compiling in honor of Black History Month. The title: FREEDOM’S CALLING
Note: The speech, AIN’T I A WOMAN, given in 1851 in the state of Ohio, has been left in its original form.
Was there no mercy for a child who, unlike others, had been brought up in a home that had spoken a different language than English? Black skin and nappy hair that a fine-tooth comb couldn’t even go through, the child’s place was to listen and obey, but what if she didn’t understand?
Born in 1797 in upstate New York, the child had never known the torment she would endure at nine years of age after being separated from her family. If she had, she would have probably cursed the day she was born and died.
Purchased by a family who spoke no Dutch, the girl spoke no English. Her owners were infuriated at her lack of English and beat the language into her with rods and leather. She was not a human for them but an unruly, disobedient piece of property that did not understand and, therefore, could not follow orders. She became an It.
For It, lashings became a way of life; the beatings hurt and left intolerable bruises. But It found freedom in the God her masters sang about. Later, whenever they beat her, she would pray aloud, hoping the God she had come to faith in would rescue her from the torture. He did.
Sold to a tavern owner, she went to live in a bar and house of prostitution. The beatings stopped. But, here, she saw the cruelties against women and the ruthlessness of men. She discovered her voice, and it dawned on her that she was not an It but a woman, a human being.
Unfortunately, her owner sold her. Her respite in the bar only lasted one and a half years. The pause gave her time to refuel and strengthen herself for the unknown brutality that awaited her in the future. She was denied the right to marry the father of her firstborn child because a neighboring plantation owner owned him and opposed the marriage; due to the fact the newborn would not be his property, she had to marry a slave owned by her new master, an older man who impregnated her four times.
On July 4, 1827, New York issued its Emancipation Proclamation and freed all slaves. But, the woman who had endured so many hardships and maintained her toughness and faith in the good of humanity was already free. It had already started seeking to find her thirteen children––the children she had borne that were taken away and sold into slavery.
During the Great Spiritual Awakening, she had a life-changing experience that would change the way she lived and changed her name. This woman became a friend of the progressive Quakers; she spoke out for the Civil War, recruited black men to fight for the Union, worked in government refugee camps for freed slaves, and spoke out for women’s rights.
She made her most famous speech in 1851 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. Let’s hear the address from the woman herself.
***
Ain’t I a woman
“Well, children, where there is so much racket, there must be something out of kilter. I think that ’twixt the negroes of the South and the women in the North, all talking about rights, the white men, will be in a fix pretty soon. But what’s all this here talking about?
That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages and lifted over ditches and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?
Then they talk about this thing in the head; what’s this they call it? [member of audience whispers, “intellect”] That’s it, honey. What’s that got to do with women’s rights or negroes’ rights? If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?
Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wasn’t a woman!Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.
Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain’t got nothing more to say.”
***
Three days after Thanksgiving, on November 26, 1883, on a wintry, cold day in Michigan, this woman completed her mission at eighty-six years of age. She took flight. Isabella Baumfree, better known as Sojourner Truth, born and raised in slavery, died a free woman and Walked On!
This is a Creative Non-Fiction Story that I am compiling in honor of Black History Month. The title: FREEDOM’S CALLING
Note: The speech, AIN’T I A WOMAN, given in 1851 in the state of Ohio, has been left in its original form.
Was there no mercy for a child who, unlike others, had been brought up in a home that had spoken a different language than English? Black skin and nappy hair that a fine-tooth comb couldn’t even go through, the child’s place was to listen and obey, but what if she didn’t understand?
Born in 1797 in upstate New York, the child had never known the torment she would endure at nine years of age after being separated from her family. If she had, she would have probably cursed the day she was born and died.
Purchased by a family who spoke no Dutch, the girl spoke no English. Her owners were infuriated at her lack of English and beat the language into her with rods and leather. She was not a human for them but an unruly, disobedient piece of property that did not understand and, therefore, could not follow orders. She became an It.
For It, lashings became a way of life; the beatings hurt and left intolerable bruises. But It found freedom in the God her masters sang about. Later, whenever they beat her, she would pray aloud, hoping the God she had come to faith in would rescue her from the torture. He did.
Sold to a tavern owner, she went to live in a bar and house of prostitution. The beatings stopped. But, here, she saw the cruelties against women and the ruthlessness of men. She discovered her voice, and it dawned on her that she was not an It but a woman, a human being.
Unfortunately, her owner sold her. Her respite in the bar only lasted one and a half years. The pause gave her time to refuel and strengthen herself for the unknown brutality that awaited her in the future. She was denied the right to marry the father of her firstborn child because a neighboring plantation owner owned him and opposed the marriage; due to the fact the newborn would not be his property, she had to marry a slave owned by her new master, an older man who impregnated her four times.
On July 4, 1827, New York issued its Emancipation Proclamation and freed all slaves. But, the woman who had endured so many hardships and maintained her toughness and faith in the good of humanity was already free. It had already started seeking to find her thirteen children––the children she had borne that were taken away and sold into slavery.
During the Great Spiritual Awakening, she had a life-changing experience that would change the way she lived and changed her name. This woman became a friend of the progressive Quakers; she spoke out for the Civil War, recruited black men to fight for the Union, worked in government refugee camps for freed slaves, and spoke out for women’s rights.
She made her most famous speech in 1851 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. Let’s hear the address from the woman herself.
***
Ain’t I a woman
“Well, children, where there is so much racket, there must be something out of kilter. I think that ’twixt the negroes of the South and the women in the North, all talking about rights, the white men, will be in a fix pretty soon. But what’s all this here talking about?
That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages and lifted over ditches and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?
Then they talk about this thing in the head; what’s this they call it? [member of audience whispers, “intellect”] That’s it, honey. What’s that got to do with women’s rights or negroes’ rights? If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?
Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wasn’t a woman!Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.
Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain’t got nothing more to say.”
***
Three days after Thanksgiving, on November 26, 1883, on a wintry, cold day in Michigan, this woman completed her mission at eighty-six years of age. She took flight. Isabella Baumfree, better known as Sojourner Truth, born and raised in slavery, died a free woman and Walked On!
This week has started out with surprises. I woke up Monday morning lying in bed, talking to God; my mobile rang. It was my sister and her husband from Tennessee. To say it was nice hearing their voices at 6:45 in the morning is an understatement. Their phone call showered me with love, and I lay there thanking God for my family. As we were talking, my doorbell rang.
Who could be ringing my doorbell at 6:55 in the morning?
I thought I was hearing things. When I ended my call, the doorbell rang again. I jumped out of my bed to run down the stairs to see who it was, and a man was standing before my door with work clothes on.
The first thing I did was to calm down because I was sure he had the wrong house.
When I tipped my door open, I said, “Yes, may I help you?”
“We’ve come to repair the damage in your basement,” he answered.
I didn’t roll my eyes or ask him if he knew what time it was or say I didn’t know they were coming and that no one had notified me. I just told him to wait a minute, and I would go downstairs and let them in.
Then I ran upstairs thinking, “God, you sure know how to surprise me.
This was God’s gift and way of showing me He’s got humor.
So, I quickly dressed and canceled breakfast with a dear friend I treasured very much. I went downstairs to let the men in my basement so they could repair my office.
Some of you know that my office is in my basement. I have been out of it since May 2nd of this year because of the floods we had in my area. I had fallen into deep despair because my office is where I write. The world that I’ve built for the characters I write for is in my office, and I love it.
I will be able to move back into it over the weekend. To say that I am thankful is again an understatement, so I’ll say that God is good, and my heart is filled with gratitude to see a new year. Without God, I am nothing.
Many thanks to all of you who reached out to me on the first day of my new year. All of you are so amazing, and I will do my best as a writer, or whatever else I am called to be, to be true to the One who knows all and is overall and created all and to keep finding God’s life for my will. To God be the glory, Amen.
I woke up this morning, lay in my bed, and counted the movements of my lungs. I had to smile because, for many, that is foolishness, a waste of time. I call it awareness.
Turned over and left my bed without needing someone to help me, showered, chose what I wanted to wear and dressed, and then went downstairs.
Had what I wanted to eat for breakfast and began planning the tasks I needed to do before they became urgent, and pushed me into a stressful mode that would make my week difficult and me angry.
Yes, my calendar is full. However, a full calendar shows me the necessity of putting God first-–to show gratitude if I want to see any progress in my tasks. Whether cooking, writing, reading a chapter in a good book, listening to good music, or paying attention to what is happening around me and reaching out to help, taking the time to meditate first is necessary for me. It’s my time to look toward Heaven, regardless of whether it is night or day, and to tell God I am truly thankful.
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In this anthology, you will find a variety of writings from poetry to flash fiction, authored by some of the best writers in the industry. You will bear witness to their talent and also their courage, as they open their hearts and share their most intimate thoughts via the written word.
There is something for everyone in this short collection, and we hope that each piece resonates with that part of your soul receptive to being blindly transported to a private island, where excellence in writing is the law of the sand.
