Sipping Mercury Launch Speech
There’s a line in Sugarcane Saint that encapsulates the heartbeat of this entire series—it’s printed on the bookmark that accompanies Book One: “She blew the feathery seeds of a dandelion into the air. She watched the tiny tufts float into the breeze. Mother had told her she was planting flowers all over the county every time she blew on a dandelion. She liked the idea of planting seeds with one reckless breath.”
I keep returning to that image. A child standing near an old set of train tracks with her cheeks puffed out. With one simple breath, she scatters seeds farther than she can imagine.
That is the foundation of Ruth’s story. It is the foundation of this trilogy.
Who we are—no matter how small we feel, no matter how silenced, no matter how ordinary—affects the world around us.
The words we speak—or choose not to speak. Our moments of courage and our moments of fear. Our love and the ways we choose to give it.
Our everyday choices. It all travels.
Sometimes like a whisper. Sometimes with the fury of a storm. But it travels.
Ruth begins her life as a child in a huge family—lost in expectation, confined by circumstance. And yet even in her smallest acts—her private thoughts, her secret hopes—she is planting the seeds of her life.
The series asks a hard question:
What are we planting? In our homes? In our marriages? In our communities?
Because what we do does not end with us. It ripples into our children. It shapes the atmosphere of our homes. It echoes through generations. It can carry shame. Or it can carry strength. A reckless breath can scatter seeds of silence. Or it can scatter seeds of courage.
And the beautiful, terrifying gift of being human is that we get to choose.
That is why this story matters to me. Not because it is dramatic. Not because it is historical. Not even because it happens to be mine. It matters because it reminds us that even when we feel unimportant, we are never insignificant.
We are always planting something.
This morning, I hope Sipping Mercury feels like a seed of its own—one that sparks conversation… reflection… healing… survival… perhaps even change.
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