Eileen Bader Williams
memoirist, poet,
guardian ad litem,
cappuccino drinking,
on-the-go Grammy
I AM FROM POEM*
I am from weeping willow trees
from 5 & dime stores and Mary Jane shoes.
I am from Galewood where we knew all the neighbors and their pet's names, too.
I am from sunflowers and bird feeders
and a vast lake called Champlain.
I am from a Republican and a Democrat,
from divorce and a not-quite-the
Brady Bunch family.
From yoga poses and rosary beads
From Irish, German, and God Knows What.
I am from utter despair, wishful thinking, and boundless hope.
*Georgia Ellen Lyon
Class of '72
Concord H.S.
Wilmington, DE
All About Me
I was born in 1954 the same year a new religious group was birthed from a cardboard hut in South Korea with the whopping big name The Holy Spirit Assocation for World Christianity (aka Unification Church, and ugh, 'the Moonies'). I was one of the first members to join in 1973 in Delaware and was catapulted from this tiny state to all parts of America. And, yes, Wilmington is the home of our current president Joe Biden. Many of us saw him with his dog at shopping centers, shaking hands with the locals. Who knew? Home grown Joe would become president one day.
And I could not have predicted my own life trajectory from a tiny place to the entire world: Israel, China, Korea and now here near Lake Champlain where it is so cold in January I fear for my fingers just taking the garbage out. I can hear the locals say: "You're not a real Vermonter." Oh, but I am because I work as a guardian ad litem making a difference for kids - the only thing I am more passionate about than writing.
