Sean, you capture the life of a town beautifully, and I love that you are not willing to omit such details as noisy nose clearing at the old men’s coffee klatch. Thank you for sharing your heartstring to Dothan. You show as much gratitude for small town recognition (like Cairo yesterday) as you do The Grand Ole Opry, and that is but part of what endears you to your readers.
I was born in Logan, Alabama, about 50 miles from the big city of Cullman. In my late 20s I followed an historic preservation career into the northeast but my soul will forever be in the South. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer [in my dreams], it was my grandmother, a healer in the Alabama mountains, who came in my dreams and got me through. I had one doctor who believed in dreams. He asked me if I dreamed "where" the cancer lived because it was defying mammograms and ultrasounds. I said "yes." He drew the location I shared with a felt tipped pen on my body and after the biopsy said I would have been dead within a year if it had not been for my dreams with my grandmother. The breast cancer was aggressive but 34 years later I am still here. My oncologist has a beautiful letter from my extraordinary surgeon pinned in my folder - my surgeon had written to my oncologist and said to listen to me, that I was dreaming with a healer. My oncologist later said I was his poster child for survival and led me out to a room filled with people celebrating one year of survival. He said he would not have given a tinker's dam for my survival beyond 5 years but now, he said, "I listen more carefully."
I didn't think I was a writer but I wrote a book about that experience which became a book about my life and growing up among people who dream. Thank you for these beautiful posts. I might look up Dothan next trip South.
What an amazing story, Wanda! God bless you and I pray that you remain cancer free. You know, some people call what you experienced was a vision instead of a dream.
Congratulations on being a survivor. I'm a 2 year warrior myself. Good oncologist are dreams themselves! I believe in dreams and good oncologist. I got the best and radiation oncologist too.
Send the name of your book please. I would love to read. I dream often and remember every one!!
Thank you so much, and, more importantly, congratulations back to you on being a survivor. That alone led me to a path of sharing with veterans and those surviving chronic illness the importance of using all the gifts and resources available to each of us for healing the mind, body and spirit. I am also an historian so my interest in dreams led me coincidentally into discovering the vast dream imagery of the 19th century and then to the dreams written in letters between soldiers and their families in the Civil War. Of course dreams figured in all of history but chance discoveries of Civil War letters brought me in touch with those particular dreams in a time when dreaming pervaded culture, art and music and, by default, led me to writing about those letters and those dreams.
This is why I say you are a beautiful treasure my dear friend you have a good loving heart for everyone even if you don’t know the person you spread so much love and kindness in this chaotic world we need more sweet people like you my dear friend 🙏
A gracious good morning and happy Monday to all yall. Dothan Alabama is kind of famous because half the retirees from the U.S. Army have been there. Fort Rucker has been here a long time and the yankees stationed there would inevitably go check out Dothan. Most Alabamians have been thru Dothan cause its right on the way to the redneck riviera and Panama City. There is a good bar b q joint near the intersection of 231 and the circle. I've played golf at the Olympia Spa and back in the day it was hard to beat. Well time to pour a second cup so yall have one too and...
You are indeed “Sean of the South”, and today is testament to that. I doubt if I ever make it to Dothan, or anywhere else in Alabama, but you make up for that. Your way with words puts me right there!
After breakfast at Ray’s, I’m ready to see the sights. And I would not miss the Houston County Library for love or money! Why? “Be cuz…dis iz de place where (your writing career) wuz born❣️” (Brer Rabbit)
Mine, too. It won an Academy Award for Best Song that year! 🎶Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah. Zip-A-Dee-A, My oh my, what a wonderful day🎵 Such a Feel Good, Happy tune❣️
whenever I was in a really good mood, I would break into song with "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah." When I was blue, I would sing a French song about unrequited love. Haven't needed the latter one in more than 55 years, so I've forgotten its title!!
People in Dothan are friendly In 1959 my husband's family was passing through there driving from Illinois to Florida. My husband was a toddler. They stopped for the night and someone official gave my mother-in-law a tiara and bag of goodies and she was named Dothan Queen for a Day! She talked about it into her 90s!
Such a beautiful tour of a small town. I’m sure I’ll never visit (Romania is too far away), but your essay made me feel like I’ve been there already. Thanks, Sean.
Dothan was part of the “scenic route” when I drove my mom back and forth to Florida every year. Mom was my navigator. She used her well used, post-noted and highlighted road atlas through Dothan because going through Dothan was “tricky”. This past October it was just me. I lost my best navigator in April. I relied on another navigator called, Google. Maybe on the way home.
I’m grateful for your thoughtful and thought provoking writing.
“Tap water blue eyes”, love your verbage/descriptions. There are so many Dothans in small town America. My father insisted, as I was growing up, that we as a family of nine traveled together in a city bus he turned into a motorhome every summer! My mother abhorred it! But we were blessed to see 49 of 50 states and went through many many small towns. It was funny though because his planning was always a little off. For instance, we went through Las Vegas at dawn and New York at midnight. 😂 But the memories are priceless to me now, God rest his soul. He loved to travel the USA! I’m not sure why, because my mother screamed at us and him most of the time! If it’d been me as the mom of 7, I would have sent him and the kids on their merry way and gone to a spa for two weeks, sans the kids!
Oh so beautiful! The really special thing about you Sean is that you belong to so many people and places. You have made a place in our hearts that is for you and you alone. You read our minds and hearts and put the thoughts and feelings into words that express them in a way we could never do for ourselves. Thank you for being you!
Yeaa. If my wife catches me going in the kitchen when I smell fresh baked chocolate chip on the counter. She'll holler," Don't you eat those cookies, They're for your funeral!"
Great article! My sister lived in Enterprise, Al, her whole married life. She took me to the boll weevil statue when I visited. Maybe you could do a piece on that sweet little town!
Thanks for the memories, Sean. In 1969 I traveled from East Texas and played in the Press Thornton Future Masters Junior Golf Tournament. Since 1950, each year aspiring junior golfers gather at Dothan Country Club to test their skills against the best. The folks of Dothan made us feel very special indeed! Tom McC, The Goat Ranch Formerly Known as Lake McQueeney, Texas
Sean, you capture the life of a town beautifully, and I love that you are not willing to omit such details as noisy nose clearing at the old men’s coffee klatch. Thank you for sharing your heartstring to Dothan. You show as much gratitude for small town recognition (like Cairo yesterday) as you do The Grand Ole Opry, and that is but part of what endears you to your readers.
So true Leigh…so true!!! 💕
You had me at Liver and Onions.
I was born in Logan, Alabama, about 50 miles from the big city of Cullman. In my late 20s I followed an historic preservation career into the northeast but my soul will forever be in the South. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer [in my dreams], it was my grandmother, a healer in the Alabama mountains, who came in my dreams and got me through. I had one doctor who believed in dreams. He asked me if I dreamed "where" the cancer lived because it was defying mammograms and ultrasounds. I said "yes." He drew the location I shared with a felt tipped pen on my body and after the biopsy said I would have been dead within a year if it had not been for my dreams with my grandmother. The breast cancer was aggressive but 34 years later I am still here. My oncologist has a beautiful letter from my extraordinary surgeon pinned in my folder - my surgeon had written to my oncologist and said to listen to me, that I was dreaming with a healer. My oncologist later said I was his poster child for survival and led me out to a room filled with people celebrating one year of survival. He said he would not have given a tinker's dam for my survival beyond 5 years but now, he said, "I listen more carefully."
I didn't think I was a writer but I wrote a book about that experience which became a book about my life and growing up among people who dream. Thank you for these beautiful posts. I might look up Dothan next trip South.
When someone tells me they're from LA I always say, that's nice, Lower Alabama.
🙂
Wanda, I googled your book and will get a copy. Thank you for sharing.
Wow! Thank you!
God blessed your Gram❣️😇and she blessed you🤗
What an amazing story, Wanda! God bless you and I pray that you remain cancer free. You know, some people call what you experienced was a vision instead of a dream.
Thank you!
Wow Wanda, thats God's miracle and the dream was angelic communiqi!
What's the name of the Book.?I am interested reading it, if possible electronically.
Thanks
Thank you! There is an ebook Kindle version available if that is helpful: https://www.amazon.com/She-Who-Dreams-Journey-Dreamwork/dp/1577314263
Thanks, got it.
Congratulations on being a survivor. I'm a 2 year warrior myself. Good oncologist are dreams themselves! I believe in dreams and good oncologist. I got the best and radiation oncologist too.
Send the name of your book please. I would love to read. I dream often and remember every one!!
Best of luck to ya!
Thank you so much, and, more importantly, congratulations back to you on being a survivor. That alone led me to a path of sharing with veterans and those surviving chronic illness the importance of using all the gifts and resources available to each of us for healing the mind, body and spirit. I am also an historian so my interest in dreams led me coincidentally into discovering the vast dream imagery of the 19th century and then to the dreams written in letters between soldiers and their families in the Civil War. Of course dreams figured in all of history but chance discoveries of Civil War letters brought me in touch with those particular dreams in a time when dreaming pervaded culture, art and music and, by default, led me to writing about those letters and those dreams.
Links to both books are below:
She Who Dreams:
https://www.amazon.com/She-Who-Dreams-Journey-Dreamwork/dp/1577314263
The Home Voices Speak Louder than the Drums:
https://www.amazon.com/Home-Voices-Speak-Louder-Drums/dp/1476665583
Hey there Wanda! I received your book and cannot wait to get started.
Hopefully this week I will have the time!!
Here's to you kiddo!
This is why I say you are a beautiful treasure my dear friend you have a good loving heart for everyone even if you don’t know the person you spread so much love and kindness in this chaotic world we need more sweet people like you my dear friend 🙏
Thanks Sean for bringing this up! Long ago I had a friend college classmate from Dothan!
Dothan is a biblical name, I just knew that from Google!
"It mean 2 wells, a famous pastures- ground where prophet Joseph found his brethern watching their flocks...".
A gracious good morning and happy Monday to all yall. Dothan Alabama is kind of famous because half the retirees from the U.S. Army have been there. Fort Rucker has been here a long time and the yankees stationed there would inevitably go check out Dothan. Most Alabamians have been thru Dothan cause its right on the way to the redneck riviera and Panama City. There is a good bar b q joint near the intersection of 231 and the circle. I've played golf at the Olympia Spa and back in the day it was hard to beat. Well time to pour a second cup so yall have one too and...
Peace
That’d be Hunts
That'd be good pork.
Well yeah sure Dobbs BBQ/Hunts Seafood. Same location/owner
Mine came down here with the USAF and stationed at Maxwell.
There ya go
Does the Mason Dixon line run across your belly button? Sorry, I had to ask! (My "halfie son is half Okie and half Singaporean!)
You are indeed “Sean of the South”, and today is testament to that. I doubt if I ever make it to Dothan, or anywhere else in Alabama, but you make up for that. Your way with words puts me right there!
After breakfast at Ray’s, I’m ready to see the sights. And I would not miss the Houston County Library for love or money! Why? “Be cuz…dis iz de place where (your writing career) wuz born❣️” (Brer Rabbit)
Make that Br’er Rabbit from “Song of the South” circa 1946.
Zipede do duh. One of my favorite all time movies has been banned. God forbid our kids were to watch that one. Yep. "I was born in the briar patch"
Mine, too. It won an Academy Award for Best Song that year! 🎶Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah. Zip-A-Dee-A, My oh my, what a wonderful day🎵 Such a Feel Good, Happy tune❣️
whenever I was in a really good mood, I would break into song with "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah." When I was blue, I would sing a French song about unrequited love. Haven't needed the latter one in more than 55 years, so I've forgotten its title!!
“Le passé”, “Je ne peux vivre sans t'aimer”, “La vie en rose”, “Comme moi” ?? There are so many…
Belonging……one of the most important things in life!
People in Dothan are friendly In 1959 my husband's family was passing through there driving from Illinois to Florida. My husband was a toddler. They stopped for the night and someone official gave my mother-in-law a tiara and bag of goodies and she was named Dothan Queen for a Day! She talked about it into her 90s!
Such a beautiful tour of a small town. I’m sure I’ll never visit (Romania is too far away), but your essay made me feel like I’ve been there already. Thanks, Sean.
Dothan was part of the “scenic route” when I drove my mom back and forth to Florida every year. Mom was my navigator. She used her well used, post-noted and highlighted road atlas through Dothan because going through Dothan was “tricky”. This past October it was just me. I lost my best navigator in April. I relied on another navigator called, Google. Maybe on the way home.
I’m grateful for your thoughtful and thought provoking writing.
“Tap water blue eyes”, love your verbage/descriptions. There are so many Dothans in small town America. My father insisted, as I was growing up, that we as a family of nine traveled together in a city bus he turned into a motorhome every summer! My mother abhorred it! But we were blessed to see 49 of 50 states and went through many many small towns. It was funny though because his planning was always a little off. For instance, we went through Las Vegas at dawn and New York at midnight. 😂 But the memories are priceless to me now, God rest his soul. He loved to travel the USA! I’m not sure why, because my mother screamed at us and him most of the time! If it’d been me as the mom of 7, I would have sent him and the kids on their merry way and gone to a spa for two weeks, sans the kids!
Oh so beautiful! The really special thing about you Sean is that you belong to so many people and places. You have made a place in our hearts that is for you and you alone. You read our minds and hearts and put the thoughts and feelings into words that express them in a way we could never do for ourselves. Thank you for being you!
Yeaa. If my wife catches me going in the kitchen when I smell fresh baked chocolate chip on the counter. She'll holler," Don't you eat those cookies, They're for your funeral!"
Lol
💜💜💜
Great article! My sister lived in Enterprise, Al, her whole married life. She took me to the boll weevil statue when I visited. Maybe you could do a piece on that sweet little town!
Thanks for the memories, Sean. In 1969 I traveled from East Texas and played in the Press Thornton Future Masters Junior Golf Tournament. Since 1950, each year aspiring junior golfers gather at Dothan Country Club to test their skills against the best. The folks of Dothan made us feel very special indeed! Tom McC, The Goat Ranch Formerly Known as Lake McQueeney, Texas
I played in it in 1964. Very cool experience. 👍