love – Page 2 – Anjuelle Floyd

Of Mothers, Daughters and Cracking Open the Pomegranate…

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A fruit of both the body and the soul, the spirit and heart, the pomegranate casts a net long and wide, deep and with breadth stretching into those areas of life perceived not with the eyes but with inner knowing that comes with age and experience.

The relationship between mothers and daughters is as old as humankind and time.

What could Persephone have been thinking when

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Of Mothers, Daughters and The Struggle to Live…

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Since learning of the death of Whitney’s Houston death, Saturday, February 11th, 2012, I held little patience with those who expressed sincere shock and amazement that she no longer lived with us in the world of life on planet earth.

Even as our elder daughter posted comments on Facebook offering condolences I cautioned her to not become so caught up in what I termed, “…one more example of the media bastardizing a very real and human loss in the effort to make headlines and money…”

On Monday I zoomed in my criticism on the fact that while people may miss Whitney, no one’s loss could compare with that of her and Bobby Brown’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina.

During the drive to school on the morning of Valentine’s Day, our youngest daughter said,

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Of Responsibility, Daughters and The Decision of Motherhood…

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Emilie Mendala-Mathew writes in her recent article, “Mother-Daughter Relationships Associated With Mental Well-Being,” that, “The quality of relationship between a mother and daughter has been linked to the daughter’s mental health.”

Says Rosalind Barnett at the Center for Research on Women at Wellesley, College, Wellesley, MA, “Daughters who report healthy relationships with their mothers also report high self-esteem, positive outlooks on life, and fulfillment in different areas of their lives.”

Likewise, Barnett adds, “Positive aspects of the mother-daughter relationship can result from daughters feeling cared about, mothers expressing interest in daughters’ life, mothers supporting daughters’ family choices and personal decisions, mothers being dependable, and effective communication.”

Well how original?

This is not to discredit Barnett’s work or assertions. They

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Of Love, Nurturing and Outliers…

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In a culture where citizens and institutions emphasize work and accumulation of wealth, and where ascertaining the basic necessities of life cost a small fortune, all of us can easily descend into believing, and rather unconsciously, that lacking a trust fund in which to dip our fingers and secure these necessities, along with the various accoutrements society demands we provide our children–iphones, their own personal computer, ipads, ipods, televisions, designer shoes, etc–we lack what it takes to parent well.

And yet parents who possess tons of

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Of Alice Miller, Amy Chua, and Parenting as a Way of Growth and Transformation…

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A beneficiary of the Civil Rights Era, I entered integration in third grade carrying with me the missive delivered to many middle-class African-American children around the country: “Integration [of schools] offers an opportunity to work even harder. You may sit next to white students, but you will need to prove yourself. You will need to work hard and be better at all that you do.”

While my mother and father loathed slothfulness and laziness, this missive added pressure to an already weighty responsibility.

The result has been that I, like many African-Americans of my age and social class are and continue to be over achievers.

The concept of always giving your

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Of Eldest Daughters, Mothers and Healing…

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When two years ago, our eldest daughter asked to moved back home I was thrilled.

Having just earned a graduate degree and about to begin law school she expressed the desire to return to a more laid back lifestyle than she had experienced when a coed and then graduate student living in the city.

My excitement at having our first born home came not simply from 0ur enjoyment of having her around to share and do activities with, but with the additional idea that she truly liked being with her father and most specifically me, her mother.

The relationship I shared with my mother, now nearly 16 years deceased,

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“Seasons in Purdah” | …a novel by anjuelle floyd…

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What would you do if the loss of your sight ignited a war between you two best friends?

This is the case for 35-year-old, psychologist, Sahel Ohin, involving her two friends from childhood, Titus Denning and Carl Pierson.

The surgery that could return Sahel’s sight might also kill her.

Sahel’s husband, Titus, a cardiac surgeon, fears the latter.

Sahel’s neurosurgeon, Carl Pierson, believes Sahel’s blindness has rendered her hostage to Titus.

On the first night out since her blindness Sahel meets James Bolton, a former San Francisco stockbroker.
Though never having met they converse as if old friends.

The winter afternoon that Sahel attempted suicide, James received life imprisonment for murder, and his fiancée leapt from the Golden Gate Bridge.

When during dinner Sahel accidentally knocks over her glass of water and wets her gown James escorts her out onto the verandah.
Against the backdrop of Sahel’s husband, Titus, inside the ballroom and receiving an award, James asks, “Do you believe…in life after death?”

Seasons in Purdah shows what happens when best friends become adults, and how, among many things, life is but a series of choices, the consequences of which yield a drama that both weaves and unravels the knots binding us to those we cherish and who love us.

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“Seasons in Purdah,” a novel by Anjuelle Floyd. Read the 1st 28 Chapters

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