Happy Sunday!!!

The front porch is where first impressions are formed. It's when I get to say without words, how very happy I am to welcome you to my home away from home.

I'm soooo excited today.

My first real guest is arriving at high noon. I'll post pictures on my website.

Follow me and be a part of helping me write my own story.

Growing up in a small town helped shape my worldly views. My Dad was in the Air Force until I was 21. I lived many places, but I call Gainesville, Florida home.

I was in the second grade, at P.K. Young Laboratory School, when I first learned what a "Feminist" was. My friend's mother was a lesbian. She was a Black Woman living with her White Girlfriend. My open-minded Mother never hesitated to say, "But of course," whenever I asked her to let me sleepover. At the time, I didn't know that life was made up of so many judgmental people. Back then, I only witnessed hypocrites on Sunday, at church.

My other best friend was a little white girl name Sarah. Sarah lived on the rich side of town, and her family had a swimming pool. When I first invited her to our little house in the hood, she packed her bags and her mother let her come home with me, to spend the night. Even then, Gainesville, Florida was special.

Who knew almost 40 years later, my childhood friend Quintina and I would inherit a friendship that defies reason. Nobody cooks better than her, and when I have a taste for Quintina's food, she happily drives all the way from Charlotte, NC, with her daughter, to feed me. Being my friend means never saying no. We made a pinky promise that included a needle, and touching fingers to ensure our lifelong promise to each other. She has probably forgotten all about that.

Then, there was that private school that my mother sacrificed everything to send all three of her children. We didn't even own a car at the time. That meant that me, my sister, and my brother would walk 1 mile to school, and that same 1 mile back home.

I have so many fond memories of my life in Gainesville.

There was this lady name Laverne Porter that taught me modern dance when I was growing up. The first time I danced to, "Neither one of us," by Gladys Knight, it freed me from ever doubting my talents.

I had no rhythm, but Laverne made me feel as though I could become a ballerina.

No one knew that we were poor. Hell, I didn't even know that we were poor. We had love. We had our Mother, that told each of us that she would take us out of the world that she brought us in, if we acted out, and ever displayed poor character. She taught me that prepositions are never allowed at the end of a sentence, and that association brings on simulation.

My dear Mother was an Educator. And she still thinks that everyone is her student. See, back then a person's name was worth everything. How we carried ourselves was a reflection of how our parents raised us. Everyone in Gainesville knew that Anita Heard did not play about her kids. She was only standing 5'1, and she would curse out anyone who she thought meant us any harm. I spent a lot of time sitting on my old porch. She wouldn't let me leave it. My mother was convinced that she knew what was best for us.... and clearly, she was right.

I was allowed to play with the cult of Hare Krishna friends that lived nearby. They were part of one of the biggest cults in Gainesville, when I was growing up. Each family gave up all of their worldly possessions to live together. They believed in peace and blah, blah, blah. So, I learned from them how to grow sprouts in jars, and how to meditate in a circle all day, with them. My mother considered that a safe zone.

My Mother was bigger than her circumstances. She was Godly in her soul, but she used her tongue, and her endless love for her children to protect us. I'm just like her in that way. I would be lost without her; I wouldn't have this beautiful front porch, or all of the memories of love and sacrifice to lead me.

If we each substituted complaints with gratitude, we would all live a happier existence. You would be able to allow profound peace to enter your soul. That's what my old front porch is for. Remembering to be grateful for life.

" Always envision your life perfected. That way, when you rise with the Sun, you will never see the shade."

-Angelia