Hello! It has been a while since we chatted. I missed you. This last year and a half has been quite the journey. I had to walk away, not from writing, but from posting my thoughts in this forum. The time is right to return.

Some really special things have happened since June 2019. I’ve been published in a book of poetry, a magazine, and an online motorcycle blog. All have been exciting and I’ve learned so much.

I’ve found a new group with focus on the publication process that has been fantastic. I’ve learned what I was doing wrong with my query letter and how to approach agents and I’m still on the fence about having a professional editor take my manuscript before a publishing houses editor does the same. In the meantime I’ve met some extroidinary authors, writers and artists and have found a very unique place of creativity and support. It was an unexpected gift.

My website is up and running, I’ve not got a Twitter account and have learned how to tweet! And I was going great guns with Instagram, but for some reason my phone will not allow me to post, but I can still chat so that’s a plus.

But this past year and seven months have been more than just a to do list. It came with fear in the form of Covid. My daughter suffered from it terribly and there was nothing we could do to help her. Then my husband’s friend died, followed by two more, then another and as of today, we’ve known ten people who lost their lives to this horrible virus. It truly took the rug right out from underneath me and our family.

Our family – we’re been together since August. Lives upended, jobs lost, relocating and reimagining what life will be like once we all have the vaccine and wonder when we can remove our masks. Those over our mouth and nose, and the ones we’ve pulled around us like armor. In a few short weeks it will be one year since the virus entered this country and stopped the world. Many have been crippled by it, lost their lives, while others lost their homes, their savings depleated and life turned upside down.

In the quiet, some of us found ourselves. We dusted off the guitar in the closet and bought new strings online. We now buy everything online, food, clothing, bass strings, and sheet music. We found music again and try to practice every day. The sound of scales and arpeggios fills the house. My husband’s bass vibrates the floors and pictures on the walls. There is a familiarity of normal we embrace. Workouts now are very different. Walks at Kensico Dam, yoga mats and exercise elastics sit near hand weights in the bedroom. These all came in handy after the scales highlighted how much homemade bread, rolls, muffins, cookies and cakes were baked.

So why did I choose today to come back and begin to touch words again? Well, recently like many of you, we began to clean out closets, donate items and sort through boxes tucked in the back out of sight. One of the boxes had a treasure trove of memories tucked inside. Photographs, birthday cards in crayon, faded ribbons from elementary school science fairs and a newsletter from January 1995, Issue #1. It was the first newsletter I wrote for my group family day care. The format was simple, a letter from the director (me) a section called Mamo’s Moment (my mom) who shared a recipe. A section that listed whos birthday we were celebrating and educational book list suggestions. The last article was called One Last Thought and it it just happened to be on Dr. Martin Luther Kings Day 26 years ago today. I believe there are no accidents, so I thought it was the perfect time to wake up Touched by Words that will be connected to my new website. As well as honor a very special man, whose words are needed more than ever before in history. If you will indulge me…

One Last Thought…

“What could I possibly say about the late great Dr. Martin Luther King in this small newsletter, that has not been said before, in much bolder more well known and established forms of journalism? Yet my closing thought is simply this, when one thinks of Dr. King many esteemed words come to mind; Doctor, Reverend, Nobel Prize Winner, Fighter for Equality and Human Rights, Husband and Father. All hold skills unique all by themselves. Still, he took each one and used each talent as a building block to create the man he became. Let us hope each of us can nurture our own children and each others children with the building blocks necessary to create the kind of self-esteem so very vital to become the best they can be. May we all have such great dreams and truly believe we can make them come true.” Breathe Deep, Think Peace, Patricia Young