Mr. King's Memorial Service

I went to a memorial service for Mr. King today.  He was a good friend of my family, a man that was taken so very early.  Much too early.  As early as my mother was taken from me, so I felt the pain of his daughter and his beloved wife.  I felt their pain as if it were my own.  But Mr. King’s service gave me so much hope.  I could only hope that I could touch lives as he’s done.  That I could draw in a crowd of mourners to wish me a fond farewell to my next life.  That people would say such wonderful things about me. 

Mr. King lived a fabulous life; yet, he was a humble man.  He didn’t have this powerful position of employment, and as far as I know he wasn’t affluent, but what he had was way more precious.  He was rich in love.  You felt how much he touched people just by listening to the stories about his life and seeing pictures from the slide projector of all the grand times he shared with friends and family.  My uncle spoke about Mr. King’s witty since of humor.  The pastor spoke about his charitable giving.  He was an usher at church; he was on many boards of his fraternity; he was also a foster parent, loving father and devoted husband.  The pastor called him a soldier, who took the trials of life head on, and now he is at rest with the glory of God.  That gave me a sense of peace.  I’m glad I went to his service today.  I was reminded how short life really is and how I need to utilize my time to the fullest, but at the same time that I’m not in any race to get to a finish line.  I was reminded that I need to enjoy life and that I need to try to be the best person I can be.  I was reminded that I need to respect and cherish each and every day because it's truly a blessing, for we don't know when our last day will be.   

All is Good in the Hood

Have you ever typed your name at the Google search prompt to see what comes up?  For whatever reason, I decided to search for results of myself.  It brought up the usual: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, my Seasons Change blog, a few articles I’d written, and then there at the very bottom… Books by Jennifer Lightburn | Angus and Robertson.  At first I wondered if there was indeed another writer named Jennifer Lightburn.  That would be a trip, considering Lightburn is not an ordinary name.  So, I clicked on the link, and my mouth dropped.  “Coming Soon – Seasons Change by Jennifer Lightburn”.  I was completely beside myself.  I yelled after my son to come and take a look, and he, being one not to over-compliment, patted me on the back, and said, “great job, mommy” and walked out of the room.  So, of course I had to call a friend to get proper accolades because seeing my name in Angus and Robertson’s Coming Soon list was HUGE and gave me the encouragement I so desperately needed. 

I’m playing the waiting game now.  I’m waiting for Create Space to fulfill services.  I’ll tell you what, ladies and gentlemen; I encourage everyone to first try and publish through traditional means, where there are editors who guide the editing process.  But if you insist on self-publishing, I suggest setting aside some extra cash to hire an editor.  Writing a book was not difficult at all.  Editing it is another story all together. 

I wanted to be done by the end of 2010.  But this is my first book... at least the first book that I’m getting published.  Seasons Change is my pride and joy.  It’s taken me so long to publish because I want it to be good.  I want it to be more than good.  I want to entertain.  I also want to make a name for myself.  That being said, I just couldn’t approve my interior file.  I submitted more changes, which of course has cost me an arm and a leg, but it was well worth every penny.

So, I talked to my representative at Create Space and was informed that it will be another two weeks for them to fulfill services – make the changes that I requested.  If all goes well, and I approve the interior design, they’ll send me a proof – a copy of my book, which I hope is before March 29, the day I turn 41.  Lord have mercy!!  Anyway, when I approve that, production begins.  And instead of seeing: Coming Soon – Seasons Change by Jennifer Lightburn, my book will be available for purchase. 

I’ll tell you another thing, ladies and gentlemen, I may not be able to stay at home and write books for a living, but I am in a complete state of awe that my dream is actually coming true.  All is good in the hood.

Childhood Dreams

 As a kid, I’d get freaked out in the middle of every night.  I had wild dreams, major motion pictures with a cast of Hollywood stars.  Bad guys constantly chased me, and in one frequent dream, I’d fall off the roof of our house.  Now, even though, I believed that if you die in your dream, then you’d die in your sleep, I knew our house was a rancher, so I wasn’t afraid of meeting my maker if I fell.  But even in my subconscious I remembered how it felt to break a bone and I didn’t want to repeat the offense.  Anyway, I had horrific dreams when I was a child, even without watching scary movies.  I didn’t watch The Shining, Children of the Corn, Cary, Cujo, even when it was a double-feature, and I went to the movies with the neighborhood gang.  Though, I was afraid they would, they didn’t torment me for sneaking into another movie.  The most bloodcurdling movie I watched as a child was Close Encounters, and that scared the mess out of me.  I can’t do aliens.  Never could. 

I thought of this when my son told me that he had a bad dream.  Of course, I felt horrible because I introduced him to his first scary movie.  Honest to God, I thought he’d be able to take it.  I finally saw Nightmare on Elm Street as an adult, and I couldn’t stop laughing.  Besides, most rated “R” movies from back in the day are like PG-13 movies today, I thought, as I tried to justify watching the movie with my son in my mind.  The problem is he’s not thirteen.  He’s ten. 

He had his best friends over one evening, one thirteen and one eleven, and they wanted to see a scary movie.  My son, who covers his eyes when a horror trailer comes on TV, also acted enthused.  I wondered if he was “faking the funk,” pretending that he was game to save face.  I figured that if he was putting on an act, this would be a good lesson for him.  So, I flicked down the selections of Pay-Per-View, and chose Freddy.  (More than twenty-six years after its original release, there is still an audience for the burnt, disfigured face of a subliminal murderer.  If I described the movie like this at the time, I probably wouldn’t have put it on – as I digress.)  We turned off the lights, and together we laughed and screamed.  After my son’s friends went home, he wanted to see another Freddy movie, and so we made popcorn and enjoyed our Friday night. 

But he ended up in my bed that night.  I knew why in the morning, but I asked him anyway. 

“Freddy tried to attack me,” he said without hesitation. 

I told him the same thing that my mom told me when I was a kid.  I told him that he needed to learn to control his dreams.  That if he couldn’t prevent Freddie from making a cameo appearance then when Freddy tried to attack, he needed to muscle up and develop some super-human strength.  He could turn himself into the Hulk if he wanted to (I, of course, was Wonder Woman).  I told him that he could use magic and change Freddy into something else.  I told him how afraid I was of aliens when I was a child, so I knew how he felt, and he laughed. 

“There’s no such thing as aliens,” he said. 

“Well, there’s no such thing as Freddy,” I replied.  “He’s just a character that someone made up.”   

That night he slept by himself.  In the morning he said that Freddy is hard to fight, but he used his imagination and won.    

Still, I learned a very valuable lesson. 

Besides the fact that my son is too young for rated “R” movies (even from back in the day), I learned that my son kicks, talks, snores, and sleeps diagonally. 

No more scary movies. 

I'm Grateful

I’m grateful for being able to open my eyes

To walk outside admiring the heavenly sky

To feel the warmth of love from family and friends

To bend my knees and say Amen

To pray to God without fear or repercussion

To have freedom of speech without dreadful ramification

To have a house over my head and food on the table

To have clothes on my back and finances semi-stable

To have a job to go to, and friends to lean on

To have hope in my heart and a beautiful son

Yes, I’m grateful for being able to open my eyes

To walk outside admiring the heavenly sky