Good Morning, World!

I've spent the last six years unpacking my past, settling in self and growing in grief. This journey of emotional upheaval has been the most arduous work I've ever done, including teaching high school remedial reading to teen girls from Chicago's south side. Without warning, life demanded that I shake the snowglobe of my inner being and allow the flakes to fall in their proper places. In 2016, I returned to my small but vibrant college hometown after twenty years of living as a gypsy-like prodigal. In those twenty years, I had lived in Chicago, traveled to Kenya twice, wrote a book, earned a couple degrees and established an impressive career in family and youth services. But in all of those accolades and accomplishments, I hadn't managed to conquer the one thing that needed my undivided attention, my feelings. After settling into the home my father was raised in, which is located less than a block from my maternal homestead and childhood home, every memory I ever subconsciously silenced came rushing to the forefront of my psyche. What do you do when the life you want so desperately to forget collides with the life you've created? You feel. Continue reading...