Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove

The idea of a blog has been on my mind for a while now…

I come from a long line of diarists. I often feel the need to write down my thoughts in a book or to scratch out an idea in a small pocket-sized notepad. Or to write down the name of the book and author that has my current focus. Or even to describe the weather or the progress of a child or family member with an illness.

This comes naturally to me. Even before I knew that anyone else in my family wrote, I began to write my 1st diary. It has been a 53 year fascination..

But why make it public?

I wonder, did my great-grandmother — when she wrote about my grandfather as a child or about any of his 7 siblings and her constant worry about their health, or about what my great-grandfather was planting that day — think that one day her words would be read by anyone? 

Could it be that all of my relatives believed their thoughts were of such high quality or such depth that they were deserving of public admiration? I don’t think so…However, I do think they believed their words were unique and worthy of being written down. That is what I believe too.

My great-great grandmother and great-great Uncle were authors. They were published in local newspapers and wrote three books. They were diarists as well and then some…

Why the title, Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove?

It was harder than I thought to come up with a title but, like so many ideas, it came to me as I first crawled out of a sound sleep. The kind of sleep where you are deep in a dream one minute and awake the next.

I worked with a man down south, a long time ago. He was a therapist too. We worked with some of the toughest kids with some of the saddest stories…Because of the “work” we did, we would sometimes have to push these kids to discuss behaviors they had engaged in, that no child should ever have to think about let alone discuss…

It was this man that would use this moniker, iron fist in a velvet glove, to describe me to others and to describe my work with the children and families.

As I have considered what I wanted to accomplish with this blog, those words just seemed to fit. There are both positive and negative connotations associated with this title.

Only you can make the decision which ones apply after reading this blog and make the decision to either move on or stay with me a while….