I can vividly recall Mama singing to me, "Hey, diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle," during earlier years of my life. Then she expresses in song, break out with her homemade version with that Southern twist in her voice, "Dang dang dilly, you look so silly," as I would look out my bedroom window at a star-filled sky and full moon, waiting for the cow to jump over it.
I would begin to giggle, burst out into laughter, yawn, and fall asleep. At the rise of the sun, I'd wake up to the smell of scrambled eggs cinnamon toast and hot chocolate. Skipping off to school, I couldn't wait to share the songs and stories Mama told me.
Mom would feed the birds flying above and the animals below, help at the school as a teacher's aide, send money to feed the children, get to the hospital, visit the little ones, send donations to St. Jude's-all this are a great part of my learning experience along PBS.
In my thirty-plus years of serving the communities of health-care homeless shelters and social services, my greatest joy comes from sharing my homemade song and stories with little ones in the homeless shelters.
Now I continue to share my stories through tutoring in the Oasis Program for the public schools. For me the true meaning of living well is not in material things but in the sounds of laughter coming from a child. My desire is to give back to the programs my mom supported. My motive is to encourage and move children to read to their highest potential, help them believe that they can achieve their dreams and that the impossible is possible through consistency, perseverance, focus, staying in school, and never giving up.
