On this day, a nineteenth birthday was celebrated by seeing the ship her ballerina grandmother took to America. A husband adjusted his wife’s hearing aid. Writers talked about hooks, plot twists, and keeping the reader hungry
An ice cream shop opened, and America the Beautiful was played at the end of a protest. Auburn fans watched the game at an Irish pub. High school students in prom dresses and tuxes took pictures on Palafox Street.
On this day, first, second, and third-place ribbons were pinned on athletes, and arms were raised on podiums. Wheelchairs were pushed, and parents cheered. A principal asked, "Were you nervous?" An announcer said, "You were born ready." A runner ran so hard that his shoes popped off. Special Olympics t-shirts read: "Let's root for each other", "I'm One in a Minion" and "Dad of Two Autistic Warriors."
Visitors stopped to see the USS United States ship at the port of Mobile. One had a shark's mouth tattoo around her elbow. Another had a "Real Life Mermaid" sticker on the truck she bought when she sold her house; she once welded ships and made salvage dives for the Army. She called herself "a five jump chump that only made four.”
On this day, Cold AC was written on a truck for sale. A skeleton waved from the front of a Jeep. Stories were told about becoming homeless because of long COVID and repairing electrical equipment in a war many pushed aside. A van was given to a mom who completed a homeless program.
White tung tree blossoms with pink throats covered the ground. Jason Isbell talked about decisions that led him to peace.
On this day, a cardinal sang on a power line-red body against the blue sky. Mosquitoes and snakes returned, and pollen was swept from porch screens. A bike with a tire pump on the front and a duct-taped seat leaned against an interstate median, and a gold hoverboard was left at a park.
Human clothes and puppets were loaded into a theater for a Sesame Street show.
A bike was pulled from the back of a truck, and hands were held as a street was crossed. A dog named Gorgy waited outside a bookstore, and a smaller dog was pushed in a baby carriage.
Little girls in leotards licked ice cream cones. Friends from Montgomery looked for stores with "my name on them.” A young transplant survivor was on a day trip. She waited seven years for a liver and received it in February. She lost forty pounds of fluid and is ready to run again.
A daily reading was: Art is what you leave out.
All on this day.
On this day, sisters cartwheeled on the beach, and William Faulkner was quoted: "History is not was, it is." A community donated to help a local coach and a baseball player went 4-4 in his second game in the major leagues.
“We looked for where the Viet Cong fired rockets, but those were big mountains,” said Morris. “Sometimes we were so close to the other side that we could hear their radio or them talking at night. I kept thinking this was unbelievable.” Skeeter Morris
On this day, a homeless man looked at his reflection in a coffee shop window, running his fingers through his beard. A young woman prepared to move to the downtown where "Happiness blooms from within" is painted on a storefront. A white cane swept back and forth across the sidewalk as a man walked with his dog, and a giant rocking chair named Goliath was covered in shamrocks and green tinsel.
A family placed flowers by a roadside cross, roosters stepped through a flooded field, and lightning streaked across the sky from a thunderstorm many miles away.
On this day, a white '57 Bel Aire with a red interior and "57 Kool" on the tag was hauled across Alabama. The owner said the car ran like new as he stopped to get gas and relief from his sciatica. A cup of grapes was dropped and left on a gas station floor, and the parking lot was full at the Funderdome skating rink.
A bike wobbled on the shoulder of a highway–the rider wore a shirt that read "Slay all day.” Cars from Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Tennessee packed with bags and beach gear drove north. A car broke down on the side of the road; the passengers had York Family on their shirts. Further up the interstate, a driver walked away from his car as dark gray smoke rose from the engine. Flaming pieces dropped to the ground.
“Some guys didn't like to go on alert because it was more risky than the average bombing of the jungle. There were bad guys down there who wanted to kill us. We had to kill them first.”
Gen. Guy Hecker
On this day, clothes hung on the lawn to dry. One shirt read, "The nightmare isn't over." Children dressed as spaceships or stars and listened to stories on an out-of0-this-world literacy day. Coffee was sold from a shipping container–a business project started by a mom for her home-schooled kids.
Two women talked about turning fifty, losing their parents, and feeling like orphans.
Crowns were worn and My Sharona was played as a whole town danced to an 80s cover band. All on this day.
On this day, a girl wrote, "I love you like all fire" on her leg, and a book advised, "Anything real begins with the fiction of what could be."
Hints of humidity returned, and gray roots were covered. Stories were told of cancer, a marriage to TG Shepard, and a necklace from Elvis. All on this day.
On this day, a Vietnam veteran told about almost dying in a ship fire, and a tire blew out on a uHaul van. A mockingbird flew twigs to her nest, and a baby squirrel escaped a cat.
Wisteria covered trees in the back of a pasture, and the temperature went to over ninety on a backyard thermometer.
A man died. He called himself Ronco, and one of his last Facebook posts was: "I am enough, Who I am is enough, What I do is enough, What I have is enough- Unknown." All on this day.
On this day, a housekeeper greeted guests on her floor: "Good morning my loves." She gets up early to care for her sick mother and then cleans motel rooms. She said her finances aren't lining up–life is hard, but others must be struggling, too. Making them feel better makes her feel better, too.
A college student missed a meeting because of a "messed up car." A gas station cashier said, "We've still got a little sense left, but it doesn't always go in the same direction."
On this day, a journalist tapped his cane with a gold alligator on the handle as he told stories of sitting on the roof of a cinder-block hotel in Somalia, watching tracer fire below. And of a dead body, tear gas, and chaos as Mississippi fought to keep integration out of Ole Miss.
A man sang "Amazing Grace" to his wife at breakfast, a crop duster sprayed a Delta field, and an odometer hit 100,000 miles, all on this day.
A normal biological event for half of the population, menopause has been dismissed, ridiculed or overlooked for generations. Adding to the confusion are symptoms that vary with each woman. It can be unclear when menopause starts, how long it lasts, or the correct names of treatments to use.
“It was a loving feeling that felt like everything was going to be okay,” he said. “We call that chasing the dragon because you're chasing the first high that you ever got. You will never be able to reach that first high, but psychologically you have to try.”
Prosecutors showed pictures of Kelsey’s lifeless body on the bed. One photo showed the tattoo on her side that read, “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional,” above a flower.
The Our Southern Souls book sold out from bookstores and online sales, but it is now available on Amazon.
