Getting closer to figuring out how I want to spend my time in this space. A very long time ago and I mean very long – my literature instructor encouraged me to write. She even purchased several books for me to use as reference when I went to college. But I never put time into it. Is it a surprise that I was never a good college student?  I remember that one day during course of chastising me for clowning in class she said ‘You have the talent to be a great writer, don’t waste it, you will need to find your voice for yourself and just maybe for others.” At the time I simply couldn’t see or understand what she saw in me or in my writing. I wrote what I considered to be a good not great term paper about the Frederick Douglas but in her eyes, it was ‘a fantastic journey of 25 pages’. Eventually it became a benchmark for other students taking her class.

I used to write weekly but somewhere along the way I lost my voice. Now, here I am wanting to and struggling to find my voice in this virtual space.

I don’t know if Gloria Woehler is still alive, but I wish that I could thank her for always having faith in me, for being a kind and generous soul to me and my classmates. We didn’t appreciate her. We considered her odd, with her oversize beads and her funky mix of plaid and solid colors. But what she was really was a force to surface the good out of her pupils. I remember she had one of the strangest rules, never use the word ‘and’ in sentence. And it worked.

How many do I have here? I need the practice.

If there is a moral to this story it’s don’t waste time.

I’m going to take baby steps, keep it simple. If you should happen to stumble to over this blog then stick around – watch me grow. Thanks, Gloria.

Back when the time is right.