Tag Archives: acceptance

FMM 5 16 2025 ‘Don’t Stress Me!’

“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.” ~ Leo Buscaglia.  I migrated to the US in 1978, fresh out of nursing school in the UK (land of my birth), after growing up in Jamaica (land of my rebirth).  My boyfriend had moved to Miami, and that was enough […]

FMM 2 14 2025 Hope Springs Maternal

“Hope is the thing with feathersThat perches in the soul,And sings the tune without the words,And never stops at all,” ~ Emily Dickinson. I always knew I would have children.  Lots of them.  I remember being quite young when I held a baby, she was about seven months old, and she promptly tried to bite […]

FMM 12 3 2021 Making the Connection

“Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.” ~ Confucius. Before I knew my best friend very well, when we were both starting out at our new high school up in the hills of Jamaica, she had a very clear view of who she was and what she liked.  She was not […]

FMM 7 6 18 I’m Only Human

“The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection.”~ George Orwell. The first time I visited Jamaica after an absence of over 14 years, I fell in love all over again.  It was not difficult.  For a start I was staying up in the verdant hills of St. Andrew, looking up at the […]

FMM 1 5 18 Let Go and Accept

“Happiness can exist only in acceptance.”~ George Orwell. I have never been hung up on New Year’s resolutions.  For whatever reason that was not something that was pushed in our household when I was a child.  But the New Year has always been a time for reflection.  In Jamaica, most churches hold a ‘Watchnight’ service […]

FMM 11 10 17 Blind Spots

“There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” ~ Aldous Huxley. My brother was the only boy in our family, he was born after three girls.  I was told that my purpose in life (I came after him) was to prevent him from being […]

FMM Just as I am

“All of me loves all of you…all your perfect imperfections.” ~John Legend. My daughter was a handful as a child.  Which is why she hates it when she sees me looking on with glee as her own daughter gives her all kind of attitude.  It is the special curse a mother wishes on her kids, […]

FMM 6 3 16 The Power of Grace

“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 was still […]

FMM 1 8 16 It’s Complicated

“People who need people, are the luckiest people in the world”~ Bob Merrill.   Apparently I need to learn lessons about grief and death.  Having to deal with the death of a former husband so close on the heels of the death of my mother is quite challenging.  And as everyone tells you, no matter […]

FMM 6 12 15 Leaving room for growth

“The good man is the man who, no matter how morally unworthy he has been, is moving to become better.”~John Dewey Do you remember how annoying it was, at the beginning of each school year, when you had to wear those baggy, too tall uniforms, specially designed for you to grow into?  There is that […]