I was researching character names for my new novel and decided to look up my grandmother’s name. My grandmother was one of my closest friends. She was blunt and loving and always honest, sometimes brutally so, and I love her. Her name is Iola Lewis. She has transitioned .
But, I feel her presence all of the time. I miss her and yet she’s always here. In my memories as well as around me in the air. Her love settles itself in my heart every time it beats. Much of what I know about her past is a collection of her memories and stories of folks who knew her before I did. She’s known for being a bit ornery and little sensitive. Sounds a lot like someone I know quite well. Me. lol.
I walked some of the same streets she must have in Brooklyn last November. A few short days before I arrived, there’d been a crazy snow storm. God is Good, eh? While I was there, the weather was sunny and clear…even abnormally so for that time of year if I remember correctly. I felt her strongly then. I felt as if I had the opportunity to feel why she decided to spend 38 years of her life there. She was with me.
So, I’m still pondering names for my characters. I think I’ve chosen at least one though.
Iola.
It means ‘violet colored dawn’.
acancersworld 