The only time I ever heard my first and middle named together was when I did something wrong. My mother would never see me walking into the room the first thing in the morning and say, "Good morning Carmen Theresa." Nope, when I was in trouble I'd hear her call, "Get in here right now, Carmen Theresa!" But my mom always called her best friend Betty Mae. And Betty Mae always called my mom Barbara Jean. I don't remember anyone else calling my mom by her first and middle name. Maybe my dad did. Betty Mae Glenn and Barbara Jean Leal were best friends for probably as long as I have been alive. Between them they had 14 kids and we were all in and out of both houses. Betty Mae was tall and glamorous and Barbara Jean was short. I have so many adjectives to describe my mom. Both [...]

I dream in color and my dreams are detailed and I remember many of them. I love going to sleep because I enjoy my dreams so often. After the wreck I didn't dream. It was weird and unsettling. The neurologist said it was because of the trauma and that maybe I would have those kind of dreams again. Maybe not. About a year or so after the wreck I started dreaming but only in black and white. In some ways that was even worse. And the dreams were all scary. I woke up with terrible headaches and felt angry for mos of the morning. Maybe three years into the healing process I started dreaming in color again. It was a long, long road back to reclaiming some of who I used to be. Today a memory from 2021 popped into my feed. I remember how I felt when I woke [...]

This popped up on my memory from a Hawaii group. Back in the 80s the Salvation Army used to do weddings here. They were all Japanese tourist who flew to Oahu for the wedding and honeymoon. It was much cheaper than a wedding in Japan. The bride would rent her dress and the weddings were every hour on the hour five days a week. One day the wedding soloist got sick and someone knew someone who knew someone and I got a call to see if I could sing for a week. As luck would have it I was on vacation but not leaving the island. I asked if I could bring my toddler and set up a play area and they said yes. They were desperate. I had to wear a muumuu so I chose my brightest one, loaded the car seat into the 65 Mustang and headed to [...]