Category transcendence
FMM 8 30 19 Trains and Boats and Planes
“You’ll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.” ~ Golda Meir. In 1963, the long journey across the Atlantic from the UK to Jamaica began with a long train ride from the north of England all the way down to the south coast. As the youngest in the family, my responsibilities were few, so […]
FMM 8 23 19 The Essential Migrant
“But please don’t cry, dry your eyes, never let up Forgive but don’t forget, girl keep your head up” ~ Tupac Shakur. Around the time that Florence Nightingale was charged with leading a team of 34 nurses to work in a Military hospital in the Crimea, another nurse (or as she was also called, a […]
FMM 8 16 19 Nursology
“They don’t want to see us live together.” ~ Robert Nesta Marley. My first official job as a registered nurse in this country was at a large private hospital on Miami Beach. In those days (and perhaps still, for all I know), non-residents had to apply for a police identification when working on the Beach. […]
FMM 7 26 19 Don’t get it Twisted
“The finest language is mostly made up of simple unimposing words.” ~ George Eliot. “Farmer Jones walked up the path, drunk as usual.” I have never forgotten that line, the opening line to a book thrust into my hands when I was maybe eight years old. I had just started school in the hills of […]
FMM 7 12 19 Taken for Granted
“Nature’s beauty is a gift that cultivates appreciation and gratitude.” ~ Louie Schwartzberg. I am neither a sun-worshiper nor a frequent beach-goer. As a child I have two sets of memories of going to the beach. In my early years in the UK, beach meant a cold and usually rainy campsite within walking distance of […]
FMM 7 5 19 Low Expectations
“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.” ~ Anonymous. I was never fond of competitive games as a child. Maybe it was because I was the youngest. I was not as smart, as quick, as experienced as my older siblings, and my feelings would get hurt […]
FMM 6 28 19 Clashing Symbols
“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. I was born in a part of the world that was always famous for its rain. Manchester, in the north west of England was so wet and dreary that […]
FMM 6 21 19 I’ve looked at Clouds
“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.” ~ Aristotle. When I think about it, I had the childhood that an anthropologist would have paid money for. Being plunged into the Jamaican countryside was an immersion experience for this eight-year-old English girl. In typical Jamaican […]
FMM 6 14 19 Sing out Loud!
“As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest.” ~ Nelson Mandela. There is nothing like waking up before dawn in the cool hills of Jamaica; there is peace and quiet before the roosters start to crow, and the dogs start their chorus. Once the daylight […]
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