WHAT IS LOVE?

Love means different things to different people. A simple definition would be that love is an emotion defined by strong feelings toward someone or something. However, love, especially love between a man and a woman, is anything but simple.

There once was a time when I was madly in love with a man. While in the throes of those wild, lustful times, I thought, like many foolish girls, that I couldn’t live without him. In my first book, Bittersweet, Eloise experiences a passionate love that would change the course of her life. She would learn that loving someone is harder than being in love. We experience various forms of love in our lifetime. I hope you experience them all, yes, even the mad, passionate love of a lifetime that breaks your heart. Because you will remember that beautiful man or woman for the rest of your life; you will remember the passion and love you once shared, and you will know you are capable of great love.

The first love we hopefully experience will be the love of our parents, grandparents, or an adult charged with raising us. I had good parents who did their best. They were like Delray, Dinah, Lucinda, and Ambrose in my book, Rolling In The Deep, who migrated from Louisiana to Los Angeles in search of a better life. The book is set in the neighborhood where I grew up, and it is a love letter to a time, place, and group of people I loved, set inside a fictional ghost story.

My parents didn’t toss around the word love; instead, they showed their love by staying together to raise their family. No matter what was going on in their relationship. They worked any job to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. They may not have said the word love often, but I knew I was loved. As an adult, I understand the sacrifice that they made for their children. Sacrifice and learning to love yourself enough is the theme in the book, Finally, Doing Me!

-My book, Finally, Doing Me!, is the story of four women of a certain age who have stayed connected for over 40 years and are learning to love themselves enough to pursue their personal happiness no matter the cost.

What is love? What does it cost? What does it require? In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, the Bible lists love's attributes. Love is everything good; it endures, hopes, and never fails. Falling in love is easy; loving someone requires work. Sometimes, as women, we are so busy caring for and loving others that we forget to love ourselves. We put our hopes and dreams last until some time; they get lost.

I hope you take a little time today to love yourself. Grab a cup of coffee and check out one of my books. My books are available on Amazon and at BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com

If my books resonate with you, please leave a review.

CROSSING TO THE OTHER SIDE

I haven’t gotten to the other side yet, but I’m almost there. I can almost taste it. The heaviness that had kept me in a sunken place is lifting. The joy that was promised in the morning blows past like the wind, and my soul dances as it did before. Although it hasn’t come to stay, I know it will one day soon.

This getting to the other side is taking years, but it’s happening, and for that I’m grateful. The grief that has clung to me all these years, I want to ball it up and throw it far away from me, and yet I know I can’t escape what I must go through to get to the other side. For wisdom has taught me that there is something to be learned in this pain. The crushing pain that threatens to break me mentally, emotionally, and physically has been diminished greatly. It is no longer a constant threat to my well-being. That pain, on rare occasions, sneaks up on me, surprising me with a piercing blow.

I can see myself much like the chicken crossing the road to get to the other side. Because on the other side is hope for a better day. On the other side is peace, joy, abundance, love, and everything that God has promised. I have spent years grieving the loss of people that I loved, as well as a time and place I will never have again. However, in that process, I have grown deeper in my faith and found out how much I love to write.

Writing is also helping me to get to the other side. In my books, I honor the people I love/loved. They are reflected in the stories through some idiom or mannerism. My books are an expression of my love for the culture and of how African American women, in particular, move in the world. If you are looking for books about Black family legacy, womanhood, buried truths, survival, and love with consequences, then look no further.

My books are Bittersweet, Finally, Doing Me! and Rolling In The Deep, by Evelyn C. Fortson. (available on Amazon or https://store.bookbaby.com)

A LITTLE TRIP TO FRESNO, CALIFORNIA

A couple of weeks ago, I took a little trip to Fresno, California. Why Fresno?  Well, I had never been there before, and, given who is running the FAA, the current administration, gas prices, and the fact that Fresno was only a couple of hundred miles from Victorville, off to Fresno we went. The trip was one I took with two other women whom I met decades ago while working for the Los Angeles Superior Court. We are all retired now; they are retired court reporters, while I’m a retired judicial assistant. I met Penny close to thirty years ago when she floated into my courtroom as the court reporter that day. Penny physically walked into the courtroom with her steno machine; however, the term "float" is customarily used to describe someone who doesn’t have an assigned courtroom and is therefore assigned to a courtroom as needed. I myself had been a floater, floating for years within the court system. Such was the career of a judicial assistant in search of a judge.

I met Linda through Penny when we somehow discovered that we both loved to quilt. For years, we gathered at Linda’s home in Burbank to quilt on a Saturday afternoon until the sun went down. When Linda bought a second home in Boise, Idaho, we would take girls’ trips there and set up our machines and quilt into the night. Back then, there was one more court reporter named Rona who came along for the ride. Linda, Penny, Rona, and I were a motley crew. Linda is white, Penny is African American, who later in life discovered that she is also Puerto Rican, Rona is Japanese American, and I’m African American whose ancestors were both free people of color and enslaved. The love of quilting brought us together, but little things like texting and calling each other keep us connected. Our friend Rona stopped calling and getting together years ago, but if she were to call, she would be welcomed back as if she had never left. I wasn’t as close to her as Linda was, but I miss her.

They say that nothing stays the same, and I know that to be true, but there were moments in Fresno when I felt young, carefree, and happy again. I was with my girls on a quilting trip. I was in a thrift store when I realized I was singing and swaying my hips to the music playing. In that moment, I could have been transported back in time before all the things that broke my heart happened, because in that moment, there was joy. I’m smiling now as I look at the silly glass pig-dog I brought from that store. It’s a silly memento of our trip and how happy it made me.

Penny and Linda, if you’re reading this, you better be because I sent you the link. I love you guys. I had a great time in Fresno. Next year… Bakersfield???