Endearment -- My heart can hear the softly accented lilt of Grandma's voice calling out her special name for me. Grandma was our Yellow Rose of Texas, transplanted to Northern Saskatchewan. Once, while visiting her native state, she heard a woman call out to a little girl, "Colleenie Dahlin'! Get in the cah!" Grandma loved the term of endearment and brought it home for me, her very own Colleenie Dahlin'.

My step-daughter was 10 when I met her dad, whom I married just before she turned 12. When she learned about Grandma's nickname for me, she used it affectionately for awhile. Now she's 22 and it's been a few years since she used that term of endearment, but I treasure it as a special memory of our early connections.

I envision this community as a space where we muse on family history and strengthen loving connections, understanding and appreciating the ways we are shaped by the people who have gone before us and those who have surrounded us, the people who have been good to us, even those who have not been so good, but mostly the myriad reasons we become endeared to one another and what effect that has. I imagine reflecting on childhood, the women and men who raised me (especially the women), and the woman I have become and am still becoming.

This is both virtual home and virtual office, with public and private spaces, even a couple of secret spots. From time to time I'll show you things I'm working on and invite you to gatherings -- both virtual and in person -- so we can share joys and sorrows and get to know each other a little better.

Welcome to Colleenie Dahlin'

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