A friend recently said to me, “Wow, what a difference a week makes!” On Monday a week ago, my mother passed. Tatjana has always called mom a fallen angel and there was a moment when we were driving back across the Causeway on Wednesday, the day of her funeral, when the sun was streaking through the clouds and my brother pointed and told T that’s God and right then “I’ll Fly Away” came on my…
Miracles WHY! who makes much of a miracle? As to me, I know of nothing else but miracles, Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan, Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky, Or wade with naked feet along the beach, just in the edge of the water, Or stand under trees in the woods, Or talk by day with any one I love–or sleep in the bed at night with…
The law that Uganda is trying to pass which basically orders the death penalty for HIV infected homosexuals is brought to you by none other than The Family. I don’t believe that I have seen an organization so motivated by hatred until I came across this one courtesy of Jeff Sharlet’s book: The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. Forget what you know about foreign terrorists, these people are lurking in your…
I finally got out of the house or rather the bed this morning after being down for the count since Thursday. I took Loca to the park and was surprised to see the winterized version of it. It was supposed to snow on the northshore last night – brrr – that is cold for us here in the Gulf South. I was still coming out of a fog, the sort of new realization of my…
Patsy Virginia (Thigpen) Namer December 28, 1935 – November 30, 2009 When my grandmother died a lot of people came to her funeral in Franklinton, LA to mourn my beloved Mama Mae. However when the preacher got up to give her eulogy he spoke more about god than about Mama Mae and afterwards my mom and I lamented how at my grandmother’s own funeral she was given little air time even though she was the…
When I landed at Louis Armstrong International Airport, it was pouring rain and my heart was heavy as lead over my mom’s passing. As I pulled out the parking lot, a call came in from a familiar number and I picked up – a birthmom looking to place her baby for adoption. As Flower says, “Hope dies last.”
We lay my mother to rest in Franklinton in the family cemetery, near the dairy farm by my grandparents’ old house on Thigpen Road, near her older brother Dale, and his youngest son Carey, and right in line with my Mama Mae. Patsy’s home at last. I vowed to mom when she was alive that I would speak at her funeral service but I went to sleep on Tuesday night and woke Wednesday morning dreading…
December 02, 2009 Taurus (4/20-5/20) You’re having a very difficult time making up your mind about what you want to do next. You may find yourself taking long, aimless walks, or spending long periods of time standing still while contemplating your next move. The best thing you can do is get off to one side and let everyone else who’s in a rush go by you. Luckily, you should be much more decisive tomorrow — maybe…
Mom’s funeral is this morning and the reason it is happening so fast is it is the custom of Jews to bury within 24 hours because the grieving doesn’t begin until then. In my flights of fancy, T and I have thought we would open an animal shelter for donkeys and dogs and called it Patsy’s Pet Paradox. That’s just one thing we dream of. Here is mom with her brother Dale holding a little…