My Favorite Stories

Mine:

5th grade vitiligo. So unheard of, the computer's dictionary doesn't even recognize it. The best way to describe this vitiligo- sounds like vertiligo if vertiligo was a word is: Michael Jackson. Black to white. Then, in my case: kinda brown to white. Spots of depigmented skin nudged its way into my profile. Depression threw my mom into loops of uncertainty and an intense cleaning trip. As if a sparkling house would render a spectacular cure to my vitiligo, she cleaned every part of every room. An orange slip of paper on the floor she cleaned the night before led her to our new church on Backlick Road. Driving to this church, my mom's life was beginning. I guess we're destined to savagery when hopeless because my mom couldn't be understood and only Pastor Sammy could understand her 70 miles per second spanglish. Reassuring my mother everything was happening for a reason, Pastor Sammy, wearing one of her of 300 dress-suits took her to the lost-and-found section of the church. They started with the basics. Randomly picking a flamboyantly happy one, Pastor Sammy skimmed through the pages making sure it was free of insignificant papers and such. Finding a picture of a flower girl, a bridesmaid and a maid-of-honor stuck, loosely inside, Pastor Sammy placed this lost, almost found bible back on the shelf thinking someone in the picture might return to their prescribed book.

"Can I see that picture?,” my mother asked.

This question ends one of my favorite stories.

The picture...

Girl in pink dress looking to the side carrying a white basket: my sister.

Girl in white dress with white tiara and veil: me.

Woman on far right with short, straight hair: my mom.

Photo taken years before we found it.

Photo and bible had no name.

We had never been to that church on Backlick Road.

Who knew.

Danny's:

Born an entertainer, Danny has always been funny. His charm and energy were always there. Even during the hardest time of his life: charming and energetic Danny was there. Ryan died in April 2009. Don't let the date throw you off, it still hurts. Danny and Ryan were best friends: Thelma and Louis, if you're a bird I'm a bird kind of friends (or something more masculine...).

It/ is/ was/ havehadshouldmaybebeingbeendodiddoes a hard year and when Danny told me this story, everything became awesome.

At every Robinson alumni's favorite go-to restaurant for horrible Mexican food, I joined Danny and Kellyn (my go-to Auburn best friends) at La Tolteca. Danny talked about his ride to school. It was raining and he was going a long way. As we all find ourselves doing, he started thinking about Ryan and "not to test the impossible or anything like that," Danny told me and Kellyn, he told Ryan it would be really nice if the rain stopped.

Just then, Danny went under a bridge and the rain stopped.

It wasn't a test of the impossible or anything like that... it just happened and it just happened to be awesome.

(+Mandy's story. See "Planted" post).