Where I'm From

The following is my response to the online Lenten Retreat entry, Return--by Way of Story, by Jan Richardson and Garrison Doles:

Where I'm From

I’m from many places woven together--

from the black, flat soil of near coastal Texas

with a cottonfield across the alley

and cottonmouth snakes nearby

and rattlers in the yard.

I’m from Mickey and Mary Grace

who hailed from Alabama

meaning weeks in the summer

swimming with cousins in lakes

created by the dammed Tennessee.

I’m from Virginia which confused

me for years, a Texas/Alabama girl transplanted

in colonial soil with a history that

sometimes held its nose up high

not allowing me in its close circles.

I’m from a year in California

living on soil that had filled in the bay

knowing that I didn’t belong for long

and forging a link with the East

I could finally claim.

I’m from ‘Hooville, a center of the universe

finding in the foothills friends at last that endure

for a lifetime, slowly hearing my call

to proclaim and embody God’s holy

healing Word and Body.

I’m from the varied soils of North Carolina

studying down the road from tobacco

curing redolently in the warehouses,

traveling the mountains and hollers of

little churches in the summers.

I’m from the churches of Virginia by

graveyards of saints who lived and

died in a journey of faith living again

in the lives of their children’s children

who most accepted me as their pastor.

I’m from a partnership in marriage

with highs and deep lows, serving together

until his journey began to take a different

path towards Rome, no longer receiving

bread and wine, Body and Blood, from my hands.

I’m from the deep soil of being a mother

of two miracles--a son given by a teenage girl,

placed in my arms at ten minutes old; and a

son born late when I had thought

my womb would never bear.

I’m from the soil of the cemetery

across the road where my husband of

many highs and deep lows is buried

giving me a taste of widow’s weeds and

in the midst of grief hope for new life that now arises.

I’m from the deep soil of friends and colleagues

with whom I can share and vision together

how God’s grace and mercy can touch and

deepen a community that goes beyond

the bounds of church walls.

I’m from many places yet unseen or explored

that with those known weave together

a tapestry unique and beautiful

of colors and textures

to enliven the soul.