Page 7 - A9RAF84.tmp

As a result, I lost contact with Selima for years. Until one day I

called my grandmother and she said she had a number for her. My

grandmother told me all the stories about what she had been

enduring since I last saw her. Life had simply taken a wrong turn

and she couldn’t seem to get it back on track. I heard about her

losing her kids to the system, the nearͲdeathͲ beating that was so

severe it landed her in the newspaper, the loss of everything she

had, and finally ending up in a homeless shelter. I couldn’t even

wrap my brain around the fact that my sister, my rock, the one I

thought could overcome and withstand anything – was drowning

in her own despair. I was hearing all this stuff was going on and

still no contact with Selima whatsoever. All I wanted to do was to

let her know that telling me to go down south was the best thing

she could have done for me. I was doing okay. I so badly wanted to

tell her that I had finally made it!

Well, not big time but I was finally eating. My head was above

water. I simply wanted to share that I had somehow found refuge

in cooking and I was damn good at it. I had it all planned out. I

wanted to call her and let her know that she could come down