My Mother is my SHERO!
Although she is more than 70 years of age, my mother, the incredible Gloria Mortimer, is more active than many 40 – 60 year olds I know, me included! She is recently back from a trip to China and has also traveled to the Mediterranean, Europe and off course North America, including the US, in recent years. Never missing a beat, she is always present early to many social events at home and abroad. Her energy and go- gettedness (is that a word) never ceases to amaze me. She is truly a “Super Hero” in my book!
My daughter shared with me how, not very long ago, she agreed to accompany my mother to an event and was making arrangements to drive her there, only to be told “I’ll drive my own car because you young people don’t know how to party, and go home too early for me!!” Read the rest of this entry »
Tribute to my Father: Sep 1 1933 – Apr 16 2005
As I shared in my post of March 10th where I paid tribute to a friend, when I lost my father to a traffic fatality five years ago today, I was always searching for something, anything, to help me get through another day. Into about the third year, surprisingly, that something came in the form a simple quote supposedly found on a headstone in Ireland:
“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal. Love leaves a memory, no one can steal”
When I came across this quote, it was as if it had been written for me as it confirmed my feeling that the heartache I was feeling, would never heal and that it was alright to feel that way. More importantly, it reminded me that the many cherished memories I had of my father, could never be taken away. From that moment on, I have been able to live with the heartache because the memories are like a balm that soothes.
Friendship makes the world go round……….
I am slowly getting back to being my “normal” self, after the somewhat sudden loss of one of my best and almost life long girlfriends. One day we were hanging out and squealing like the college girls we were more than 30 years ago and the next, she was lying in a coma and soon after that, I watched as she lay dying!
According to Wikipedia, one definition of friendship is:
“the cooperative and supportive relationship between two or more people. In this sense, the term connotes a relationship which involves mutual knowledge, esteem, affection, and respect along with a degree of rendering service to friends in times of need or crisis.”
After three weeks she came out of the coma and although she could not talk, her great writing skills let us communicate and we were definitely expecting to pick up where we left off, on out next Third Saturday get-together.
But, it was not to be. Instead, she left us on Friday, February 19th, the day before our next scheduled 3rd Saturday outing and our next get-together was when I said goodbye publicly at her memorial service.
Shrove “Pancake” Tuesday
As a practicing Christian who follows the Anglican Faith, I look forward to what is known as Shrove Tuesday.
I must say, my enthusiasm for this event did not materilize until I relocated from my native Bahamas, to the United States. First as a member of Olivet Episcopal Church in Alexandria VA and now as a member of St Matthias Episcopal Church, Clermont Fl. Read the rest of this entry »
Young Bahamian making waves!
Bahamian Jameel Lightbourne is creating waves with his awesome culinary skills!.
I have personally had Jameel’s Seagrape and Guava Cheesecakes and they are absolutely to die for! Made using locally grown seagrapes and guavas, the texture and flavor are like nothing you have tasted anywhere else!
If the rest of his cuisine is even remotely close in its tastiness, then I know he has a huge hit on his hands!
As a native Bahamian, I am always thrilled when I learn of any young Bahamian taking the initiative to dictate their future by venturing into the world of entrepreneurship.
Congratulations Jameel and all the best.
The Hate and the Quake
BY SIR HILARY BECKLES
Sir Hilary Beckles
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES is in the process of conceiving how best to deliver a major conference on the theme Rethinking And Rebuilding Haiti.
I am very keen to provide an input into this exercise because for too long there has been a popular perception that somehow the Haitian nation-building project, launched on January 1, 1804, has failed on account of mismanagement, ineptitude, corruption.
Buried beneath the rubble of imperial propaganda, out of both Western Europe and the United States, is the evidence which shows that Haiti’s independence was defeated by an aggressive North-Atlantic alliance that could not imagine their world inhabited by a free regime of Africans as representatives of the newly emerging democracy.
The evidence is striking, especially in the context of France.
The Haitians fought for their freedom and won, as did the Americans fifty years earlier. The Americans declared their independence and crafted an extraordinary constitution that set out a clear message about the value of humanity and the right to freedom, justice, and liberty.
New Year’s Resolutions
Two of the most commonly accepted definitions of the word “resolution” when used in the term “New Year’s Resolution” are:
“finding a solution to a problem”
“a decision to do something or to behave in a certain manner”
This year, I am choosing to take both and turn them into action.
What is your favorite Christmas memory?
I have so many wonderful memories and fun traditions of Christmas. This was always such a magical time for my entire family and I have continued to keep that magic alive!
I especially remember how special Christmas was to my father. While we were off attending colleges abroad (a total of five of us at one time!) my father was adamant about one thing: we all had to be home for Christmas. Because my mother worked for an airline at the time, we got to travel the world fairly unrestricted so most holidays, we found ourselves all over, visiting families of room mates and college friends. However, inevitably a few days before Christmas, most of us could be found sleeping in some airport, on the way to Nassau for Christmas!
Give thanks with a grateful heart!
As the United States celebrates Thanksgiving Day tomorrow, you will continue to hear the greeting “Happy Thanksgiving.”
The question is: what are you thankful for? And, how do you show gratitude?
As for me,
- I am thankful first for just being alive and healthy! I have more than one friend or relative who had health related challenges recently and although I am not 100 percent at the point of healthiness that I should be, my recent physical examination indicates that my health continues to improve over where I was at my last physical two years ago. I am showing my gratitude for the blessing of good health by being more committed to eating healthy and exercising – that does not include while I am in the Bahamas for the Christmas holiday
- I am also thankful for my family, beginning first with my wonderful husband Jim, who continues to be supportive and committed. His unconditional devotion makes every day worth getting out of bed for (except on Saturday’s of course when he gives me breakfast in bed and I curl up and watch movies all day I hope that Jim knows through my actions that I am equally committed and love him unconditionally as well. Read the rest of this entry »
Do you believe in the power of prayer?
I have always known about the power of praying and have yet another story to share, that confirms that God answers prayers!
In-flight tracking - over Asia
You may already know that I traveled to Australia recently, along with my sister-in -law, to meet up with my sister, who was there on business. My sister-in-law lives in the Washington DC area and I live in Central Florida, so we planned to connect in Los Angeles, for the 14 hours flight to Sydney Australia.
Excited and exhausted, I sat in the lounge area, waiting to board my flight to LA. My phone rang and the almost inaudible voice on the other end, was my sister-in-law’s, telling me she had missed her flight from DC and, that the airline personnel with whom she was in touch, indicated that there was no way she could get to LA that night and therefore, would not make the flight from LA to Sydney.
“Attention passengers, FLIGHT 837 to LA are now ready for boarding……….”
I called my hubby who had dropped me off at the airport a few hours before, and relayed the news. He and I agreed that I should go ahead and my sister-in-law would catch up with me the following day.
I boarded my flight and was uneasy about the prospect of a 14 hour flight to Sydney solo and was beginning to gather my things since I decided that I would wait until the next day as well. Then it happened: I remembered something I had read during my morning meditations that morning. Read the rest of this entry »
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