Joanne Woodward and I

I was seventeen when I met Joanne Woodward sitting under a tree on the grounds of Little Rock Central High when she was filming a movie based on the memoirs of Elizabeth Huckaby. She wouldn’t sign my yearbook with an autograph, but invited me to sit down.  Her signature meant nothing to her, but she graciously introduced me to the woman who had lived the story.

It was hot and I had just graduated from Central. I watched as the extras gathered in the streets to reenact the scenes of trying to prevent the nine African American children from coming into school. My brother was on the football field playing an extra for another scene.

Tears came to my eyes as I watched the scenes play out. Being a graduate of Central, I certainly knew the history, but they had transformed the streets of Little Rock that day to 1957.

I watched as the crowds gathered and the hatred was being played out all around me. I felt nauseous in the heat. I held within me the secret of my pregnancy. I carried within me the determined soul of child who would be born both white and African American.

I watched as rants were shouted and fists were raised and knew that my child was going to have a difficult task ahead. I no longer fit in the world I had grown up in.

The Director called for Ms. Woodward and she began to rise. I managed to get a few words of thanks out as she stood. Ms. Woodward was right, Ms. Huckaby was the one to sign my yearbook. She had lived a life to change history for myself and for the baby I carried.

I had met the “real” person and the person that had brought her character to life on screen. I believe Ms. Huckaby shared her story with the world to bring understanding and healing.

Memoirs bring to life the ability to walk in another person’s shoes. I wrote my memoir to share my journey of becoming whole. Please like and follow my “author” page on facebook to get updates on the release. It is found at Tina Louise Witcher.

Worthy?

What would you do with your life if you felt worthy?

SCARS

There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with. -Harry Crews, novelist and playwright (1935-2012) 

HEALING THROUGH WRITING

Write through your pain. It heals the soul. It boosts the immune system. It is therapy and the price is a pen and piece of paper. All you have to do is start.

Here is a starter sentence. My heart broke when (you fill in the blank).

........Then what happened?

..................Did you heal?

............................Then what happened?

.............................................What does it mean? What did you learn?

Before you know it, you have found some relief!

Try it and let me know.

What Legacy Do You Want To Leave?

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Man discovering fire was considered a turning point in evolution.

When we fall in love, we feel our hearts on fire.

In the Bible, God’s voice came from a burning bush to speak to Moses.

Firewalking is taught for inspiration and to build a belief within us that anything is possible.

When I need to feel close to something greater than myself, I light a candle. I create a sacred space.

As we go into the holiday weekend to celebrate a life gone too soon. I think the only way to honor his legacy is to try to make each thought, the most loving thought you can have for yourself and for each person who crosses your path.

If my life was cut short and today was my last day, I want my last thought to be of love.

What would be your legacy?

May your day be filled with light, Tina

What dream have you shelved?

Last night I had a sleepless night after launching the social media platform to promote my upcoming memoir, WALK ON WATER.

I had just become satisfied with putting my story on paper, BUT then the next step is to find a publisher and readers and reviewers and, and, and…. The list was building in my head. My thoughts were racing.

I sat very still and said to myself, “You’re right, I am doing something very scary. It is hard to be 51 years old and uncertain and learning new things.”

When we are young, changes happen all the time. Little by little as we grow older, we think we can’t do anything new. I’m only 51 and my grandmother lived to be 91. Forty years allows for a lot of living and change; AND yes failing, but also succeeding.

Adding “author” to my resume is my dream. Self-doubt and second-guessing makes the dream stay on the shelf.

What dream have you shelved?

Remember who you are, Tina

WALK ON WATER, a memoir

About my memoir, WALK ON WATER. What is it about? Here is my story....

At eighteen, I was pregnant and alone. Beaten and mugged by a fellow high school student on a cold night, I found myself begging my estranged parents for help. My body and spirit are in crisis as I have a near death experience during the premature delivery of my son, giving me the choice to live or die.

Twenty-six years later, I was a successful therapist and considered a warrior healer, but my father’s cancer diagnosis ripped open scar tissue from old wounds of childhood isolation, abuse, teenage pregnancy and a brutal early marriage. I return to my childhood home, facing my parents and the painful circumstances that required me to leave my sons in their care.

Soon after my father’s death, my own health scare serves as a wake-up call and a realization that my long-term relationship is failing and never was what I thought it to be. Finding my life in ruins, I start a deeply personal journey to find my way in the darkness, realizing I am no longer a warrior but a wounded healer.

Through deep acceptance and forgiveness for myself, I realize that for almost fifty years I have been surviving but not thriving. I finally find the courage to ask the universe how to thrive.

WALK ON WATER will appeal to readers who desire a writer’s honesty and vulnerability with a message of hope that no matter how dark the despair, love lights the way.