Good evening, Readers,

It's been three weeks since I was last with you and much has happened in that time. And as I'm sure y'all know, adulting is nothing if not full of adventure and drama. Well, mine is, at any rate.

So, after my father-in-law's funeral, we junketed around Jamaica meeting family and friends, all while my husband battled a mysterious ailment that made his eyes, face, and tongue stay swollen, and sent him to seek medical attention three times in 19 days. Restful, it was not. And that was only the first hiccup.

Still, it was good to be back home if only for a little while. I remembered things I had forgotten, enjoyed sights I had missed before, and came away with a new sense of awe and inspiration, and a new respect for my countrymen who live there every day and make do with what they have.

We take the blessings of our existence for granted until we are faced with the harsh realities of those whose lives are lived in the harsher light of insufficiency and deprivation, but who still live grateful, cheerful, lives. Jamaicans call say it this way: "Tun yuh han mek fashion" which means "take what you have and make something new". They do it every day, and I was glad to be reminded that that is my heritage!

But the hiccups have continued. Last week, my youngest came home for a doctor's visit from college and tested positive for COVID-19. She isolated in place and then returned to college in time to make her clinical session at the hospital on Thursday. And then guess who got it next?

That's right? Yours truly. And guess who has deadlines coming up? Right again...yours truly. It was hard to get any work done in Jamaica what with all the worrying, and now I'm being stymied again by health issues. What's a girl to do?

Well, this girl is going to promote the heck out of the anthology she's doing her best to be part of that comes out on November 1. It's called Wanted: Mistletoe and you can 1-click it for pennies. Just click on the title. My story in it will be called Five Golden Rings, about a preacher and a widow with two sons.

If you haven't already pre-ordered, there's still time. Other authors in the anthology include Stephanie Morris, Olivia Gaines, Megyn Ward, and Shelley Munroe.

In the meantime, I'd better have a lie-down. I'm suddenly feeling exhausted, and I can't write, but since I'm in isolation, I won't be disturbing anyone if I wake up in the middle of the night and get some more words down. Time for a nap!

À bientôt,

K. T.