A Love Letter to My Vocal Friends

*️⃣ I have added a warning label because parts of this letter become slightly graphic in describing one of mine and my mom's recent illness. *️⃣

❤️❤️❤️

Hello Friends, I must address an issue in my life right now.

Recently I have been somewhat inactive publicly on both Vocal Media and the Facebook group Vocal + Assist.

At one point I was very active publishing stories and poems on a weekly basis and I was great at supporting other Vocal creators by reading and commenting on your stories, poems, and articles.

2026 has been different. I have not been so active this year. I am still working behind the scenes with Vocal + Assist on Facebook (yes, believe it or not we are still a fun and active group). I am also working on a new music project. But due to circumstances in my life I just don’t have the opportunity to work on more than one project at a time right now.

My mom, many of you know her simply as Isabel, has taken a turn for the worse. 2026 has been a rough year for her, as well as me. From the middle of January through the entire month of February she suffered with Diverticulitis. This was a horrible illness. She hadn’t been this sick in a very long time. The recovery was also very tough. It took about 7 weeks to recover. It was finally by the second week of April that she was finally out of the woods and was able to begin to resume her normal diet again.

Her recovery was a great amount of work on me. I had to pay attention to specific details of her diet and prepare special meals for her. She was in a lot of pain and I was spending extra time caring for her and comforting her with hand holding, kisses, prayers, and words of encouragement and affirmation.

After about a month of fairly stable health my mom and I both ended up with a stomach virus which resulted in diarrhea (gross - but part of life). This was in mid May. You would not believe how incredibly tough it was to be dealing with diarrhea yourself and having to take care of someone else with the same illness. It was terrible almost horrifying - traumatic is a better word. Those of us that are mobile can quickly make it to the toilet and do what we have to do and keep most of it confined to the toilet bowl. But not my dear sweet Isabel. She is unable to walk or even sit up. She’s also completely blind and is in the advanced stages of dementia. My dear sweetie has it very tough. But, God Bless her soul she’s a real trooper.

It was a mess and I had to clean up the mess. People ask, “Well doesn’t she wear diapers?” Yes, she does but they cannot contain diarrhea. It is runny and watery and leaks out of the pants. Then, once I would get the diapers off of her to clean her up more diarrhea would come out and keep coming out over and over. My poor baby was lying on her bed swimming in a puddle of poo and I would be in tears - not because I was in pain and very sick myself - but because my little lady was rendered helpless and she had such a look of sadness and fear on her face. I don’t think she had a grasp of what was happening to her. The tears were uncontrollable. My emotions were shot. I wanted to give up. But, with faith and an undying unconditional love I kept going. I did my job that God has commissioned me to do and I accomplished it successfully.

June has been a slight bit easier. But earlier this week (June 16 and 17) my mom went 41 hours without sleeping - which meant I did not sleep. This was incredibly tough. This sleeplessness was driven by fears, slightly increased glucose levels, and medications. As I write this (early morning June 19) my mom has been sleeping now for 17 hours.

Aside from all this sickness the main driver in my inactivity on the Vocal platform and in the Facebook group is the fact that my mom’s dementia has progressed again. It seems that every three months her dementia reaches another level and her baseline changes. This time her ability to communicate has been greatly affected and in turn she has become insecure and is needing my complete attention when she is awake. Six months ago I was able to multitask and get a mountain of things accomplished. But, not right now. I must put my complete focus on my mom. She needs me now more than ever. I am her best medication.

So, this gets me to the main point of why I am writing this. A few people have felt that I am ignoring them or forgetting about them. My friends believe me - I am not ignoring or forgetting about anyone. I want to be there for you and read your stories and poems like I used to - but I simply do not have the opportunities right now. My time is very limited and my emotions are spent. The only things that keeps me hanging on and keeps the peace in my life is my relentless faith. Thank you, God.

But, I think of all of you and names come up in my mind and I think, “I’m going to read something by Novel Allen today or Tiffany Gordon, or Bill O’Neal, Caitlin Charlton, Sid Aaron Hirji, Harper Lewis, Dharrsheena, Susan Fourtané, Ray Taylor, Imola Toth, Marian Carroll, Antoni De’Leon, Tom Baker, Cali Loria, Edward Swafford, and a host of others that are still supporting me that I used to support on a regular weekly basis.

But, right now I am sadly not able to put my all into supporting the wonderful Vocal creators like I once did. But, my heart is there and my good thoughts for success and good health is there for each and every one of you.

One day I will be able to give back as much (and hopefully more) than what I receive from my Vocal friends!!! ❤️

Before I end this announcement I want to recognize the admins (and a few former admins) of Vocal + Assist. I really love and enjoy working with each of you. I enjoy our behind the scenes planning and chats. I am so honored to be surrounded by the cream of the crop. It is a blessing to be given the opportunity to work with such vibrant talented and intelligent people. Thank you to Lamar Wiggins, Rachel Robbins, Tim T. Carmichael, Sara Wilson, Marie Wilson, and Julie Lacksonen. And former admins Sandy Gillman, Vicki Lawana Trusselli, Steph Cole, and Sandra Tena. I love all of you and greatly have enjoyed getting to know each of you in a deeper level of creativity, intellectualism, and professionalism. Vocal + Assist (the Facebook group) is a Godsend for me and I love and enjoy it and I send my gratitude and love to each of you - the admins because we are creating a community of love, creativity, and respect that breaks boundaries and builds bridges.

This is my love letter to you! I Love You!

❤️❤️❤️

Photo Gallery of Isabel

With Love, RHC ❤️