Stories for Semaj

The dying of the sun.  We all know it will happen one day, but as much as we want to live long lives, I don't know of anyone that wants to live to see it happen.  That no doubt powerful, inevitable, sense of fear and doom that would likely run through you in the days leading up to it.  Then the destruction that would crush you when it finally came to pass.  My son was my whole world, and by some curse that lays over me, I lived to see that day and the destruction that followed. It began with September 15, 2021.  I had hit week 16.  It was a milestone.  Every day was an accomplishment and every week.  I was in the second trimester and statistics say that you're more likely to be able to have a sigh of relief at that point than a tragedy.  I had eaten some Taco Bell that day and packed up some books.  The food didn't sit well in my stomach and to this day, I know I'll never eat Taco Bell again. Up until that day, my pregnancy w...

My favorite flower is the sunflower.  They're tall, big, and bright, following the sun with their brown faces.  My favorite type of sunflower is the red sunflower.  To narrow it down, my favorite red sunflower is my son, Semaj Sarian Howard.  My little red and brown baby, pictured against a bright blue blanket. Semaj has a very special genus.  His father held that name as a special moniker for himself that most refused to use.  Even I was skeptical at first.  Yet before the name was finalized, he asked me if Semaj could be the first name instead of the middle name and I said yes, because if we had a son, it would be his son too. We chose baby names early.  I'd had my name chosen for a possible boy child years before I even met a man that I could hold deep enough affection for to allow for the possibility of children.  That name was Sarian.  It is special to me because it comes from Sariah, my middle name.  I always prefe...