In December 2002 when I was jobless and almost homeless, a young cousin of mine who was attending Virginia Commonwealth University asked me when I was going to get my poems published. Going through the rigorous process in getting my poems even noticed was the last thing on my mind. But during that sweet, uplifting conversation with my cousin, he inspired me to write fifty short vignettes, which I started writing in January 2003 and which took four and a half years to write. These vignettes are just little snippets of my life as I was growing up as a child. Some are crazy funny. Some are sad. Some make you angry. Some will make you think about life. As I was writing each vignette, I was truly missing the security, the comfort, the love, and the joy that my mama and daddy gave me during my childhood. Each vignette was written during a time in my adult life when security, comfort, love and joy had been stripped away. But in the process, God taught me many valuable life lessons. The title of my collection of short vignettes is: The Little Things I Miss. If I happen to be privileged to have you read one of these short vignettes, I hope you too will discover or remember a little thing in your childhood that you cherished, and miss.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Those colors in the sky were some kinna beautiful after a fresh spring or summer rain. I saw red, orange, purple, blue, green, and yellow. Mama told me that those colors were a rainbow. And the way the rainbow arched itself in the sky, it seemed that it had an unknown starting point with no particular destination in mind.
When I was a child, I often wondered where the rainbow led to. Some said to a pot of gold. I thought maybe it led to a crystal city, full of color and full of light, and where everything was perfect and beautiful. Yes, as a child, I envisioned a world that was loving and pain-free and where there was no sorrow or regrets.
A few days ago, my twelve year old cousin pointed to a rainbow in the sky, as we were being driven to town by his father. I asked him as to why God puts a rainbow in the sky. He didn’t know why but wanted to know the answer. I told him that every time he sees a rainbow in the sky, it is to remind us that God will never destroy the earth by water again.
We need reminders along the journey of life to remind us where we have been and where we are and to where we should be going. I have taken many detours on life’s journey, which led to dead ends. If I had remembered the “littleliest” things that flavored my life with amazing tastes, then I would not have sought after people and things which didn’t even come close to the “H” in Happiness.
Rainbows make me happy. They remind me of days when I marveled at God’s mysteries and how my precociousness left me with many, unanswered questions, many of which I still don’t have answers for, and it doesn’t bother me one bit if the answers stay locked up somewhere over the rainbow.
I appreciate rainbows, not only for their color, but also for the simple fact that God reminds me to embrace the littleliest things in life, because that’s where you will find real happiness. Oh, how I have missed the littleliest things of my childhood, which caused me to appreciate and celebrate the many small glories that have blessed my life.
WORKING THROUGH IT 