March 13

March 13th is my birthday and – as it often happens – world events can impact what certain dates mean to us. I feel for those with birthdays on September 11 or December 7. I remember looking at the July 1988 calendar with HH and realizing that there was a date that month that would be changed forever when our FBC was born.

On March 13, 2020 my birthday was altered by a terrible event in Louisville, Kentucky.

Breonna Taylor, a 26 year old Emergency Room Technician was sleeping in her own bed in Louisville when at least seven police officers entered her apartment in search of a former boyfriend and/or his controlled substances. Three of the officers fired 32 shots into the apartment in response to one shot from her then current boyfriend who thought the officers were intruders. There were no controlled substances. The former boyfriend was ten miles away. And Ms. Taylor was killed.

Although some of the officers were indicted, nobody was found guilty until civil charges were filed by the family. Last summer, Officer Kelly Goodlett was the first officer convicted of a crime after confessing to conspiracy. As of this date, no one has been found guilty of killing her.

She wanted to be a nurse.

Most of you aren’t planning to give me a gift on my birthday in a few days, and I’m not asking you to give me anything (except maybe a prayer that God will continue to use me.)

And yet I am asking you to make a donation to The University of Louisville School of Nursing here in memory of an innocent woman who wanted to help people. There are other young women and men out there who could use our financial support in Breonna Taylor’s name. You can read about this scholarship here in an article that was published on what would have been her 27th birthday.

Remember her birthday: June 5. This June 5th would have been her 30th birthday.

It would be lovely to inundate this scholarship fund with gifts in memorial of Breonna Taylor. Thank you.

Image is a portrait of Breonna Taylor by the great Amy Sherald (2020).