I was raised in a house by the Sea
on Gothic Literature, Opera, and the songs of Johnny Cash. My father being a Scot-Irish was always telling us scary
stories about dark creatures and broken hearted ghosts wandering in the night looking for their loved ones...creepy for sure, but I loved it. He took us fishing into the deep South where he grew up, taught us to shoot a gun and a pistol (beer bottles on a log) and he made us feel protected and loved. I adored him and thought he was the handsomest man. My mother, being the elegant creature she still is, made sure we listened to classical music, and drank our Tea with a book. But is was her garden where I learned the most about her.
What I gained from the influence of both my parents
allowed me to wander off into the darker realms of my own imagination and it
formed me as a woman, and as a mother. I never knew what it was like to live in a house with beige walls or earth tones, our home was alive in color drenched hues of golds and violets.
I have raised my children on the very same dark and romantic stories of lost love and ghosts
wandering down lonely highways. They love it as do I
