“She died over 10 years ago but came to me in my dream early this morning…I know you would get it”

I had a cousin once

She was like a sister

Whatever I did

She did

Wherever I went

She went

Except for one thing

And no matter how hard I tried

I couldn’t get her to stop

Now she’s gone

She died alone

And I was so angry

And then I was so sad

I miss her very much

I still cry sometimes

She is in a better place

She must be

That’s how I go on

Without her

-Julie Sylvester Greer 2017

Whenever life takes a nasty turn I try to ask myself how did I contribute toward it? Don’t get me wrong, I’m neither a victim nor am I (any longer) the over responsible person who must blame themselves for everything. I just know that in order to change the route you must be aware of the place you came off the road, onto the bumpy dirt path, that led you into the swampy ditch. Then you can drag your muddy ass up out of the hole you find yourself in and never take that road again. This doesn’t happen if you don’t take responsibility for that first (or the second) wrong turn and learn from it.

The question is what do you do when you are watching someone else heading for the ditch and you can tell the hole they will be in might just swallow them up and they…