Church

My favorite time is when I go to church on Sunday morning. The excitement is getting up early, about 5:00 or 6:00, fixing Sunday dinner and breakfast, dressing and leaving the house about 10:45, making church on time, before it starts. When I walk in church it's like a whole new world in there. People meet you with a smile or a hug. It makes you feel like a different person. I am on a committee called Friendship Ministry.

My job is to greet people as they walk in the door, pass out little cards that ask your name, who invited you, your home church and pastor. Sometimes I have to stand up and read those cards. You be scared at first, but when you start to read them you don't be scared no more.

Sometimes I stay at church all day. I feel so good and happy. Lots of times you don't want to leave, but you know you have to come home and back to reality.

- Florence Wright

Florence says about herself, "I am a mother of four children. Three are still living. I started going back to church about a year ago, three weeks before my son died. I love going to church, so I keep on going. I live in C.H.A. (Chicago Housing Authority) on the 11th floor. I have started talking more and writing. I will keep on writing."

Florence's writing appeared in the Journal of Ordinary Thought, #10, March 1995. Used by permission.