I used to live below two very talented artists in San Francisco – Kim Frohsin and Randy Sexton – and one day I saw a painting that Randy had done and I fell in love with it because it reminded me of my grandmother and going to visit her in the country. Randy gave it to me. One of many generous gestures from both of these painters that I cherish forever.
John Denver sings a song that makes me think of my grandmother – Back Home Again – I get goosebumps when I hear it and always think of going to Franklinton to see my family and to my grandmother’s old house. I was reading in Essence magazine about a woman who was talking about making the trek back down to the South to visit family. Nothing like coming from the South and from Louisiana. Nothing.
Going back home again has lost some of its feeling for me because I know when I get there my grandmother won’t be there, my mother won’t be in the car with me, but still it always feels like home. We took this photo outside of Maria’s in Bogalusa and we are all smiling and behind us are my grandmother and my mother – my grandmother is behind my aunt’s eyes, and my mother is behind mine.
