My mother was my rock. The strongest foundation a daughter could have. She was smart, kind, generous, and full of life lessons, some not recognized or acknowledged until late in life, some not until she left this earth. She passed away in 2017, the year of a major eclipse. After a fall and serious injuries that occurred on the early morning of the new year as 2016 rolled over, she lived out the last four months in a rehabilitation and care home in Iowa. My brother and sister and I weathered frigid temperatures and ice storms on our trips back to Iowa from California and New Mexico to spend as much time as we could with her.  During her last few months of life when I realized she was going to leave, and after, I did a lot of writing.

Poems

Total Eclipse of the Sun

Not Picking Daisies

The Clock, the Sweatshirt and the Apron

and

Cake or Poop

Stories

About My Mother, Iva Mae Sagert

by Beth Grimm

SOCIAL JUSTICE COLUMN

By Beth Grimm

2020 became the year of insight for me. My life before that was wrapped up in the necessities of life for a family and after divorce, as a single mother. I was raised in a "whitebread" environment and never got involved in politics or causes like racism or gender inequality. I just made my way through with blinders on to social justice issues. But things began to unfold in 2020, life altering events. Historic changes, a pandemic, monumental weather events causing widespread devastation, self-centered leadership of the country, and rampant racism. I could not look away any longer. So I started writing about these things, hoping to make some small contribution to thought, growth and order.