Lynn's high school sculpture, college drawings, & other creative juices

My mother and I found these while looking through Lynn's photos shortly after she passed. Needless to say they were an instant tear jerker. She was so creative & talented in so many ways. . .

My sister graduated from a female-only version of an Ivy League school known as Wheaton College in Massachusetts with a degree in Fine Arts--after 1st majoring in interior design. She immediately fulfilled one dream by moving to beautiful Houston, TX for several years where she lived in a few gorgeously decorated apts. within charming apartment complexes while working as a Macy's buyer in the jewelry dept.

Then, after returning home temporarily for just a few months, she moved to the metro area she'd planned to enjoy since childhood; Atlanta, Georgia. While she lived in the cutest apts. there, whether with her 1st husband or alone, we would always love going house shopping whenever I came for a visit. After a few gigs as store mgr. in some large chains, and a couple of adorable houses bought with her 2nd husband (who she'd been engaged to in Houston before marrying her 1st one), she finally added a few dreams within and outside of her career.

Her 1st business creation on the side was the Atlanta Wedding Expo and she then went on to be the 1st executive producer for the annual nationally-televised gospel music awards known as the Stellar Awards which airs in January! While being store manager at a large supermarket, Kroger Savon, in the Atlanta area, she also joined (or started) a community outreach division through which she planned various fascinating events in the store for the public. This was followed by her dream career--despite much lower pay--as community relations mgr. and event planner at the Fairburn, GA Barnes n Nobles bookstore.

I used to often try to convince my family that we should start family businesses of our own, especially a bookstore... Lynn, Janet, my mother, and I all loved event planning and reading. We've always had tons of literature and my mother's library must have naturally turned us into bookworms. We would be in 7th heaven just buried in our own reading materials in the living room together or spending hours in a bookstore. My mom would sometimes have to tear me away from them when we went to a mall... Since people's mouths water while waiting for my mother to finish cooking a meal, our customers would have always been able to feed their faces and minds at the same time. My brother could have had people cracking up for days after hearing his natural comedian wit on "comedy nights" and my sister-in-law's clients could always venture next door into our bookstore instead of waiting their turn in that hair salon she always wanted. My nieces and nephews could have honed and polished even more talents and interests of their own while being "assistant managers..." Isn't it nice to dream???

Anyway, I was thrilled to experience three of the countless events Lynn had organized in Barnes n Nobles during a few visits. I joined in one lively discussion with the Imani Book Club, that she'd founded and coordinated. Another time, I did a poetry reading at a Jam which she raved about later to others, claiming I'd given the best performance. She also excitedly talked my ear off one day about a regular children's storyteller that was performing that night--which I just so happened to miss. Lynn did so well that they promoted her to regional trainer for managers in that position of the store within a 5 state area!

As if that weren't enough, another creation was born once Lynn discovered that her state had the highest illiteraracy rate in the nation. While still doing an an outstanding job wearing all those hats at Barnes n Nobles, my superwoman sister taught herself web design, created her own non-profit organization through self-taught methods, designed the website for it, and made herself executive producer! It was entitled the Atlanta Literary Festival and this magnificent week long festival, which donated the funds to literacy groups in GA, grew larger for three consecutive years until her cancer diagnosis was the end of it in 2005. Her friends gave her the nicknames Pocahontas, Pippi Longstockings (from one of our favorite childhood characters), and "the Brain" (after the cartoon Pinky & the Brain) because she always came up with so many exciting things to do which she got them to go along with & get involved in, including this.

I was finally actually reading Lynn's superbly produced promotional magazine for the festival--which she also created--just a few days ago. I always longed to be there to witness the whole event after she told me of all her great plans, but she wouldn't change it from the 3rd week of my return to work after summer vacation--and I knew my supervisors wouldn't take too kindly to that.

As I get the chance, I will keep adding more of my sister's art here. As you can see, I've already added her huge wall hanging drawings from her beautiful 2nd house in Atlanta and part of its decor (though you can only see two of the three sketches here) and a page from her Literary Festival newsmagazine. Theses drawings now hang in our NC home & the 1 seen below is my favorite art piece that she made.  After that lo-o-ong trip down memory lane, my biggest point is this:

Lynn was just 43 (my current age) when she passed on. I've often heard that graveyards are full of riches... All that wealth from untapped talent, unfulfilled dreams, and other potential... Let's all pray that the rest of us with this gift of life and creative power don't add to that list.