One cool Saturday night in September 2015, my mama hung the next day’s church clothes on her closet door. She placed a cup of water on her nightstand next to my novel and climbed into her plush bed. Sometime during the night, while my mother slept, her soul went to be with Jesus. I watched…
The Ultimate Gift
In my mother’s photo album, there’s a Polaroid picture of me from Christmas 1990. I’m wearing a plaid flannel gown with a red bow on the collar. My dishwater blonde bangs are messy and hanging in my eyes as I sit on the floor next to the twinkling Christmas tree. One hand is ripping Santa…
Eat the Mississippi Mud Cake
Every year, my mother made a Mississippi mud cake for my birthday. The recipe was her mother’s and it was unique to our family because she didn’t add marshmallows like most Mississippi mud recipes call for. This was because neither my grandmother Lucy nor my mother were fans of the marshmallow. However, they were fans…