She had a great group of people to help her navigate the treatment this past year and we are so thankful to them.

Dr. Mintzer was so great with each visit.  He listened to all concerned, told us some symptoms to be aware of so we wouldn’t panic when it happened.  He made sure we were at ease and knew everything about the treatments and the process.  He was great.

Millie was his right hand and also a great person to have on this journey.  She’s Dr. Mintzer’s nurse and we met with her for most of the earlier visits.  We got along great when we found out she and mom shared the same name.  Her beautiful personality is evident is the smile on her face.

The team over in the treatment center made the needle sticks and hours for treatments go by with a laugh.  They’re wonderful, bright personalities made coming every three weeks a fun trip.  A big Thank You to Jill, Michelle, Chrissie and the rest of the gang over at the treatment center.  You ladies are awesome!  Last but not least, thank you to the valet service.  Toure thanks for the conversations and great service.  We really appreciated it.

To all of you, from all of us, thank you, thank you, thank you!  May God continue to bless you and the work that you do.

She has been asking me for the past year when I would get the business up and going again because she needed her favorite, Patchouli Night scented lotion.  I wanted to surprise her with a bag of goodies, including new breakfast recipes I made, and her favorite body products.

The Creator Makes Herself Creative By Creating

So, Sunday I woke up with the intention of preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner for Monday’s appointment, and for my aunt to enjoy when she got home.  I found a few new recipes I liked, so I thought I would start there.  I also wanted to make shower gel for her.  I knew it wasn’t the lotion she craved, but I rationalized that the scent of the shower gel will soothe her until I get the rest of the ingredients needed to make the lotion.

I went about clearing off my work table and got everything set up to make the shower gel.  While putting things away, I discovered 4 unscented bottles of lotion I made a few months ago.  My brain went to work and I decided to try to incorporate the scent into the bottled batch.

I was able to get the lotion scented and poured, but wondered if it would set up correctly.  I was happy to find out, even if it took most of the day, that it did what it was supposed to do.  Yay!

Love The Way That Feels

I turned on the iPod and went to work.  It felt so good to be back in my creative mode.  For me, the process of creating is what makes the outside world go away.  It makes gray skies blue, and more importantly, it makes my soul sing.  I had to pause when I realized how much I missed making products that means something to the people who use them.  How much I loved to create products because I knew that someone was jonesing for them.  Requesting them.  It felt good to know what I was doing made a difference, even if it’s a minute one, in the flow of someone’s day.

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

It took all day, but I got all the meals cooked, the shower gel and the lotion made, and her goody bag packed.  When we arrived at the hospital, I hugged her and handed her the bag containing the body products.  Because I went on all week about the surprise dishes I would bring, she naturally thought it was breakfast.  I stood back with a huge smile on my face while she looked in the bag, smiling and expecting this new oatmeal I told her about.  Then she took a closer look and quickly looked up at me.  “What’s this?”  She sniffed the bag and then sat down looking up at me confused.  “Is this what I think it is?”  She reached in the bag and pulled out a bottle of the shower gel.  If we were outside I’m sure she would have screeched at the top of her lungs.  She undid the cap and inhaled deeply.  “Oh yes!  I missed this scent sooo much!  Thank you niece! <scream again> Thank you Jesus for giving her this blend!”

Needless to say, when she realized there was more, and the more was four bottles of lotion, she was in full out happy dance mode.  She looked at her dry hands and happily put lotion on them.  “I knew I didn’t put on lotion for a reason this morning.”  She gave me another huge hug and said how happy she was that I was back.  Being caught up in the creative process and seeing her reaction made me feel the same.

Goody Bag

Once we found our space for the morning, I sat down and unpacked her reusable grocery tote goody bag.  Here’s what I had inside (I hope to have recipes up soon for some).

• bowl of no cooking oatmeal
• breakfast pinwheels
• bowl of Zucchini & Vegetable Pot
• bowl of Slow Cooker Cheese Pizza
• Carrot Cake Clif Bar
• Berries GoMega Odwalla Bar! (my favorite)
• bag of ingredients to make a popcorn snack I adapted
• various 100 calorie snacks
• a folder filled with healthy recipes
• fresh apple carrot juice
• bottle of Crystal Light Raspberry Ice
• 2 16 oz. bottles of Patchouli Nights shower gel
• 4 6 oz. bottles of Patchouli Nights body lotion

It was good to see her face light up with each surprise I pulled out.  When we parted ways at 8th & Market later that morning, she smelled her hands again.  “Mmm, I didn’t even have to reapply when I washed my hands.  They still feel and smell good.” 

I would say my plan was successful.

What’s your creative process like?  Share them in the comments below.

Photo by James Clark

My cousin Toni, who I affectionately call my twin, has come into town from Maryland this week. The occasion is somber, her father passed. She’s very heartbroken over the loss as you can imagine.

She called me at work to give me the news and asked if she could go see mom. Ah…of course! I know mom would love to see her. So, we met up after work and headed home.

Once she hit the door, the laughter never stopped. When we’re together it gets out of control. In a good way. The first thing she asked me to do, once I changed my clothes, was to take her to Paganos Steaks on Ogontz Ave.

They make the best massive beef and chicken steaks. If it’s a steak sandwich she wants, so it’s a steak sandwich she’ll get. I haven’t had a chicken cheese steak in about two years and now looked forward to the treat.

During the drive, I tried to explain that the shop makes a huge sandwich and it usually takes me a few days to eat it. She didn’t believe me.

We watched them make the steaks and then they placed her steak onto the foil to be dressed and wrapped. I looked at her and said, “That’s yours.”

I have to pause here and apologize. I was without a camera and missed a Kodak moment. Her eyes grew to the size of saucers and she last her words. The sandwich was massive! You cannot close this sandwich. Naturally, i laughed while she tried to answer the man behind the counter asking what she wanted on her steak sandwich.

It’s never a dull moment when we’re together. I’m happy I was able to make her laugh a little instead of crying.

This Easter was calm and filled with laughter.  Mom and I were invited to the home of her best friend Nicky for dinner.  Nicky loves to entertain (she’s very good at it) so I was expecting a lot of church folks laughing and sharing Easter lamb.  That so wasn’t the case.

When we arrived, we learned that we were the only guest.  Great!!  No, I really mean great.  I love when she has a house full of guest because I get to be a fly on the wall, but this Easter I was enjoying the solitude.

The dinner was de-li-cious!  There was lamb baked with fruit, baked chicken, beets, greens, seasoned cheese grits (a new dish), and orange pound cake for dessert.  Everything was delicious and I, of course, ate a bit more than I should have.

I tasted everything on the table.  I say this because I usually don’t eat beef or pork.  Today, I had lamb.  And it was good.  <sigh>

The conversation was just as good and taught me a lot about old Philadelphia, Keeping Up Appearances and a few other BBC shows I never heard of.  It also lead into a family debate that got more interesting and passionate as it went on.

Soon it was time to head out.  We all had to get ready for work the next day.  We gathered the goodies Nicky had for us and headed home.  Today was a good day.

I hope your Easter was just as enjoyable.

God bless!

Uncle George was known throughout the family by different names, Uncle Young, Uncle Shortie, and Shortie Do-Wop (Kam-Marie’s pet name for him. It always made him laugh.). He was the youngest of ten children and not a very tall man. But, what he lacked in height, he more than made up for in personality. He was the lady’s man and he loved having a good time.

Every year, we have the annual family Christmas Eve dinner at our house and he always made an appearance. This picture of him and I was taken at the 2006 Christmas Eve dinner. He didn’t make it to the dinner last year and he was missed.

I’ll miss our off-beat chats about relationships, life and growing up in the South. He always had advice about something, no matter the topic. Take it or leave, he had an opinion about everything.

One thing that wasn’t in doubt, was his love for God. I believe that will all the decisions he made in his life, the decision to always walk with God is one he held on to without apology.

So, now I’ll say good-bye to you Uncle George. I’ll miss you. I’ll always love you. And you will never be forgotten.