Category transcendence
FMM 10 14 2022 Poets and Pragmatists
“Everywhere I go I find that a poet has been there before me.” ~ Sigmund Freud. I still own a book of poetry that was sent to me by one of my aunts when I was about 8 or 9. The title called to me, ‘The Littlest one, his book’ since I was the youngest, […]
FMM 10 7 2022 Joyful Together
“Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” ~ Karl Barth. You don’t hear the word ‘sulking’ much anymore. I am not sure what the current term is for holding on to anger in a silent, brooding way. I clearly remember a couple of episodes from my childhood where I milked a good ‘sulk’ for as […]
FMM 9 30 2022 Special Gifts
“Live your life while you have it. Life is a splendid gift. There is nothing small in it.” ~ Florence Nightingale. My first nursing experience was on a gynecology ward, run by an old-fashioned ward Sister (Nurse Manager, US style). She was close to retiring and had not changed the way she ran the ward […]
FMM 9 23 2022 Bright Shiny Objects
“We are part of this universe; we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us.” ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson. As a church minister, my father was not one to be openly political. Ministers were supposed to be neutral, not sharing their views or […]
FMM 9 16 2022 Talking in Shorthand
“Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.” ~ Buddha. One of the interesting aspects of growing up in Jamaica is that words of advice often come dressed up in amusing and sometimes confusing proverbs and parables. These proverbs may […]
FMM 9 2 2022 Living History
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl. I often wonder what happened to Evelyn. The first school I went to in Jamaica was a private ‘Prep’ school, run by a married […]
FMM 8 26 2022 The Power of Grace Upcycled
“Grace has been defined as the outward expression of the inner harmony of the soul ”~William Hazlitt. One of my mother’s four older sisters was called Grace. She was named for their mother, my grandmother. My Auntie Grace was a character, with a wicked sense of humor and a ready laugh. She died when I […]
FMM 8 5 2022 Poppy Show
“Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.” ~ Langston Hughes. The first time I worked as a professional model, I must have been no more than two years old. OK, to be honest, I wasn’t paid for my stint. […]