Introduction

Starting this journey,

feels much like

sitting on a rocky beach

with waves of cool Lake Erie

lapping at my feet

and  my anxious eyes

peering into the sunset.

Many times beginnings

or first brushes

never spark the ignition.

Oftentimes

there is too much angst

over what the end will be.

We recall later

only the cold feet

after the Earth’s turning

hides the sun from view.

Going back to my dissertation days,  I call on my mentor’s words of wisdom… Carol, this project is not the end; it is your beginning. Get in, write, and move ahead. It is the process as much as the result.”

On that note, I begin the process of this new adventure, a past-imaging of my life as so many friends and colleagues have urged me to do. When they have heard only bits and pieces of my story, they look at me and wonder how I am where I am.  In addition, many young women today need to see that they too have the power to with-stand life’s trials as well as appreciate its gifts, so perhaps this venture will be of need.    It is an American story with much grit and gristle, tears and fears, pain and suffering as well as awe and wonder, love and hate, despair and hope  and a burgeoning poetic sensibility.

 

Thank you for listening.

 

Appreciatively, SaceanCarol