Friends with the mummy or Zombie. Initially, I'm thinking zombie, don't really know why. Mummy? So they're both like these undead creatures, I'm assuming this is a mummy that like came back to life or something. I've never seen a particularly redeeming quality of a mummy. They've all just been haunted and wanting to murder everyone that they came in contact with. Or zombies, There's a little more- they don't have that explicitly murderous intention. It's more like a, like a madness that they want to attack and bite people. Not sure I want to be friends with either, doesn't seem like either have particularly redeeming qualities. With the zombie, I feel like I at least understand the intension and that there- It seems like less humanoid, for some reason. It just seems like a less evil intention than the mummies at least that I've seen in fiction. So maybe for some reason I'm leaning toward Zombie.

I'm sitting here missing my mother. She's passed on now. Six years ago. And I miss her. I wrote this piece about a month after she passed. I wrote it on Sunday, September 11th, 2016. I am left in a void that is threatening to swallow me whole. My ma, she didn't want me. That's how I started in this life. Daddy wanted me. Ma was 22 and already tired from raising those boys. Another child was the last thing she needed she told my daddy, but he wanted to try for a girl, a princess for him. And so I was conceived. She told me the story that always ended with this line. I wouldn't have given up on you the second I laid my eyes on you. She spent her life, never giving up on me clumsy as I've been throughout this life Mom was the one who always steadied me. She picked me up dust me off and set me straight again. She has been my most influential teacher. She has taught me everything. I ever needed to know about life her pride and little things in life gave me a good understanding of what is important enough to strive for to be a success. She counted her riches and sticky little kisses her grandchildren left on her cheeks. She counted her assets in the crystalline sounds of laughter coming from her children. The treasure box of her life was filled with her grandchildren's accomplishment. Family was the backbone of her life. She lived that and showed me how to as well. Family, gatherings; every Easter, babies and old folks always welcomed. During these times, you could not walk through the house at night without tripping on someone people laid out and sleeping in every room on every floor. Love and laughter Gatherings. Where my mom's gift. She stood next to me when my children were born. She stood next to me years later when my grandchildren were born. She is the foundation of my family. As we grew older, the bond between us strengthened. I held, no secrets from my mama to her chagrin, and still she remained my biggest and most loyal fan. My mama was so much more to me than a parent. She was my best friend, my travel buddy, my partner-in-crime. She was my confidant and my rock. She may not have been…

Someday I have a dream of writing a piece of non-fiction. My mother was an amateur genealogist and she spent quite a bit of time collecting information about ancestors on both sides of my family tree and she saved all that material, as well as collected as many photographs of our ancestors as she could. And she left that to me as her most important legacy. So, one day, maybe I will write all that up into a novel. Maybe a novel or maybe even a piece of non-fiction, drawing upon the experiences of my ancestors and what we know of them.

Note: Some language has been edited out of the transcript that is not edited out in the audio. I'm afraid of elevators, because when I was, a sophomore in High School, I played softball for a travel softball team. We were in a Holiday Inn elevator - and there's one elevator in the entire hotel because it's literally, I want to say 3 floors. Yeah, it's literally three floors. Three or four was not very big. It's smaller and there's one elevator for the entire, like the entire f****** hotel. Like there's one elevator anyway, and that, that'll that significance will come into play later. But anyway, my entire softball team, I want to say there was eight to ten girls in this elevator. We're like, hanging out, going up. Then somebody was - all I hear, was somebody saying, "What if we jumped?" And I was like "What?" And by the time I had paid attention. I think it was literally only one person that jumped and it, they hit it just perfectly that the elevator caught and then got stuck and it stopped. And we're all sitting there like, "welp that'll do it." And I kind of started freaking out cuz like I said, we're in an elevator with - it would have been a little bit different if there was like four of us, though. There was like, at least eight of us in this elevator. It got hot really quickly. And I just - there's a really good well not a good video, but really good video of me, like, sitting in the corner of the elevator, kind of having a moment freaking out. Cuz not only am I already scared of elevators. I was kind of I was like, mildly afraid before this happened, but then, after this happened, obviously more afraid of elevators now, but I'm also like slightly claustrophobic. So that coupled with the fear of the latent, fear of elevators did not help. So I was kind of freaking out. But anyway, keep in mind only elevator in the hotel. So they get us out or they, we are calling forever. They somehow get the door open, they get us out. But while they're also trying to get us out. Somebody says something like, "If we hit the wrong thing they're gonna fall!" Which later my dad told me that was absolutely…

What do I think is the best part of our being in my forties? Well, let's see. Since my 40s were twenty years ago - in some cases. The best part about being in my forties - you know, the interesting thing, I was talking to my grandson the other day about this, each year of life - Each decade of life is richer than the year before. And I think it's got something to do with, as we age, we gain more knowledge and more knowledge, and more knowledge and we have richer experiences or maybe, you know, not such exciting, experiences are whatever. we used to think was exciting. You know, we age, we grow, but each decade is richer. I don't know if how to describe it any better than that. Those of you who are older but know what I'm talking about, you know, when I turned twenty, I thought, well, great I'm twenty. You know, when I turned twenty-one and you turn thirty all of a sudden and you look back - well twenties were kind of fun, you know? And you turn thirty and now you're supposed to be an adult and you turned, now you turn forty and that's a big milestone for people. You look back in your thirties, were kind of interesting. And, you know, and God willing, and you'll turn fifty and look back on your forties and turn in your sixties, you know, how long you look back on your fifties and cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Once they've, I tell until your number is called. So, what was the question? Oh, yeah. The best thing about being in your forties. I think, you know if things are going correctly, you're kind of settled in a career maybe or all that stuff that garbage it - like guff that you have when you're you know, first starting out that's kind of taken care of. You got a little bit of a routine. You may be getting a little head in your career, a little bit. Life is starting to smooth out a little bit and your forties you're for the most part young enough and healthy enough to enjoy it. And you know, you're if you have a family or kids are growing and sprouting and, you know, and life is good. It really is. So for anybody who's not in their…