WISDOM

About the Book

This book is dedicated to all my siblings, even those who are no longer with us. The strong love I have for them and my cousins is forever deeply embedded in my heart and mind. To my beloved parents that the Lord felt were the ones to bless us with birth in this world, I say, “I love you and you’ll be forever remembered in our hearts.” To the rest of my family, you aren’t forgotten either. I love you all with an agape love. A God-fearing and praising-Jesus’s-name love. This book is about my own personal experiences and the wonders of watching other relationships last. Watching others as well as myself being psychological, physically, and sociological abused. These are my personal opinions, and only mine. If you disagree, that’s your issue. This is similar to anyone else’s experiences. Welcome to the club.

About the Author

Ciji is a nickname I’d given myself as a young poet. I am child number 5 out of eight. There were five girls and three boys in our cozy little first-floor apartment, underneath one of my sisters’ godmother’s duplex. I love writing my thoughts down on just about anything; once I learned how to rhyme, I was hooked. My spelling took me longer to master, but I was persistent. I remember as a child writing on the sold one-piece wooden desk and seat set, packed with new and old blobs of Mary Jane candy slices and Double Bubble chewing gum. Even though it was a written rule, against putting these items underneath the desk, it was like a red-light invitation as to where to put it before the teacher caught you chewing anything during class session. As I grew older, my cousins and my family decided to give the girls boys’ names and vice versa. My name became Sam until I became an adult. How Sam was formed out of Carol I’ll never know, but I think it was much better than some of the other names my sisters were called. My knowledge of awareness (wisdom) begun as a small child. I would sit back and watch, although I think I had the loudest mouth in the whole house and a temper—oh, what a temper. My father used to say, “Girl, you were just born before your time!” after being punished for speaking out of line or not answering at all.