I’m so happy to introduce you to my latest project (feels like I have a new one every week! LOL). I’m one of 20 fab contributors to a new book, “Bet On Black: African-American Women Celebrate Fatherhood In The Age Of Barack Obama.”
It’s a delicious collection of essays all about the men in our lives and how their commitment to fatherhood has shaped us and made our lives better. For my contribution, I chose to write about my paternal grandfather, a man who is as protective of his granddaughters as any man to ever walk this earth. He is one of my heroes and I’m happy to honor him in this way!
We’re running a Kickstarter project to help fund the first print run and I’d LOVE if you could support! Every little bit helps, even $1. We have reached our fundraising goal – thank you! I’ll let my good friend Kenrya Rankin Naasel, editor of the project, tell you how she came up the idea and what she hopes to accomplish in this slick 3-minute video:
Here’s a brief excerpt from my essay:
Late one summer evening, as I was busy taking care of my daughter and fighting exhaustion from my second pregnancy, my cousin left a panicky voicemail: “Hi, Tara. Just calling to see if you heard about grandpa—I think he might have had a stroke. I don’t know what’s going on. I need to know if you know anything. Please call me back.”
Confused, I called my father. He admitted, rather reluctantly, that yes, my grandpa had a stroke. He was at the veteran’s hospital, undergoing tests to see if he had suffered any severe damage.
“I’ll be there tomorrow,” I heard myself say.
The next day, I walked into my grandfather’s hospital room hesitantly. Would he still be the same man I knew and loved? Would he be too weak to talk to me? Would he be a shell of his former self?
My father, who I sensed was still holding back some details, kept insisting that everything was fine, that it was a minor stroke. Apparently, there were few effects other than his left side was a little weaker than his right. “If you’re going to have a stroke,” he kept saying, “the doctors said this is the best kind to have.”
That did little to reassure me. My grandpa was in his mid 70s, but I wasn’t at all prepared for him to leave me. I know it sounds selfish, and some could argue that he had lived a long, prosperous life, but men in my family seem to live forever. My great-grandfather only recently passed away, making it through several “He’s not gonna make it!” scares—he lived well into his 90s. But I know nothing is guaranteed. Just because Pringle men typically live forever didn’t mean his recovery was a done deal.
My grandpa was my hero and I couldn’t stand the thought that he might not be around, well, forever.
The best part is that because it’s Kickstarter, the money won’t come out of your account until we hit our goal. We have until October 11 to hit $10,000 and as I write this, we are just over $5,200! Click HERE to donate and check out some of these awesome perks!
This is wonderful.