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Welcome to The Heart of a Steel Magnolia. 

I’m so glad you found your way here.  Let me get you some coffee and we will go do some porch sittin’.  It’s where I have the most amazing view of the Great Smoky Mountains, it’s where I find my greatest peace.

You might be wondering at my choice of title for this blog.  What makes one a steel magnolia?  I think Wiktionary put it best:  A woman who exemplifies both traditional femininity as well as an uncommon fortitude.  Origin: Combining the contrasting images of steel, a hard metal and a magnolia, a flower.

In our innate ability we stand steely strong in support of our children and entire families.   Parallel to that we remain as delicate as a magnolia flower in our charm and hospitality.  That’s what we southern women do – I think it’s in our DNA.  Perhaps it is women, in general, just flowers from different regions of the world. 

I am not a brilliant writer nor a seasoned blogger but what I am is a  woman whose been broken to my very core.  It’s a broken that I have feared for as long as I can remember, specifically since January 2, 1981, the day my son, Joey was born.  You see, ever since I had given birth to him I have feared losing him.  Two weeks from his 27th birthday, I did.  It’s the most heart wrenching experience I have ever known.  I couldn’t fathom ever moving forward without Joey nor did I care to.  Broken is the only word that seems to fit.

It’s been 10 years,  TEN years…Yes, that’s “a little further down the road.”  I have gone through many of those years with blinders on.  Sometimes it is just easier to tell myself it didn’t happen.  My prayer is that this blog will be a great source of hope and comfort for all who want to come.  We can talk, have coffee, heal a little, remember, laugh together, love one another, heal a little, bless each other, pray together, heal a little, work through this journey of life after loss, together. 

This is a place for us to share all aspects of our lives.  How well we know that they are never the same; we are forced to find a new normal.  This blog is not all about grief but a place of hope.  You see, part of going through the grief, is being able to laugh and let yourself live again.  It takes time, baby steps.  Come on in y’all.  Let’s get acquainted. 

Friends, we are still standing.  We are alive.  We have so much to give.  We will never forget. Take my hand, together we are Steel Magnolias!