“If you look into the mirror of reality, your reflection will be to face up to your fears and the outcome will be you might find something amazing. I learned that from experience.…
Preface July 1989 The water was so cold, it practically stung. But I didn’t mind. Even though it was only minutes after 6am, diving into the pool at Windsor Swim Club in Urbana,…
I wrote the below post last week just before Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast. Posting a day early while I have some juice left in my laptop (no power since Monday). I…
Preface July 1991 I was sifting through my limited clothing options, already late for my summer job in the law library of a mid-sized firm in downtown Chicago. Having just graduated college,…
Preface November 1976 The ride on the bumpy bus was in a word, nauseating. As the vehicle climbed into higher elevations, I looked at the locals surrounding me, my parents and my…
Preface Dismiss October 1990 There must have been 50,000 people surrounding us at Camp Randall Stadium. I looked from the center of the 50 yard line up at the large crowd. Like…
Preface May 1972 “Baby! baby!” It was one of my earliest memories, if not the first. Petey and I were sitting on the steps with our grandma, waiting for our parents…
“There’s a lot I don’t have that other people have, but there’s a lot I have that other people don’t have.” Aimee Copeland, September 2012 Preface May 1996 I looked around the…
Sitting on someone else’s pee unexpectedly in a public bathroom Nails on a chalkboard Being cornered by a “close talker” Being cornered by a “close talker”who spits while they speak Driving behind a…
Preface February 1973 (In my Mother’s words from a journal) It is clear, even at this early stage that Meggie will always want to have five fingers on each hand. She knows…
Preface August 2012 I was riding by myself on the ferry to Nantucket, an island in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Massachusetts. It was actually the second time in one…
“I am not my hair, I am not this skin, I am not your expectations, I am the soul that lives within.” India Arie Preface March 1993 “That’s my older brother John. …
Preface Spring 1933 The anticipation had been as excruciating as the reality. My Grandfather, Ozzie, sat on his bed in New York City at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum and wept. That…