Alexis’ Story
She was born in Troy, Ohio, in a farm town near Dayton. Her father and namesake left when she was 6 months old.
Alexis was named after her father, Alexander, who drove tanks over mines for a living. When she was older, her mother marched Alexis up to a strange woman and said, “This is the woman your father left me for.” Alexis would never know her father and would only remember him as a womanizer.
As a result of her father leaving, Alexis lived with her mother and grandmother. With no means of support, her mother was forced to work in an era when most mothers stayed at home. As it is, Alexis was raised by her grandmother while her mother left for the day to work. Could this be the reason that mother never understood daughter?
When asked about her earliest memory, Alexis said that it was a day her mother had come home for lunch. When her mother was leaving to go back to work, she was looking for her office keys and couldn’t find them. That’s because Alexis had hidden the keys in her little wooden with ceramic bowl, potty. She did not want her mother to go back to work.
A Recovering Catholic
Sunday mornings after mass, it was her responsibility to walk two blocks and pick up the Sunday paper. She was probably 11 or 12 years old. This chore took Alexis by the church where black people worshipped. It always touched her as she passed their church because she could hear them praising Jesus Christ and worshipping Him so sincerely. They sounded happy and joyful. And she couldn’t help but compare that to her own solemn church.
If you ask her now, Alexis would say that she is a recovering Catholic. As a child, she went to Mass with her mother and grandmother every week, but by the 4th grade she had figured out that she could do one more sin before confession and it would be covered. It didn’t take long to figure out that she did not want to follow the Catholic faith.
When Alexis saw a picture of Jesus Christ with several children around Him, in her spirit, Alexis felt she was there with those other kids standing around Jesus. Ever since, she has loved Jesus with all of her heart, soul, mind and strength.
Her Friends Just Call Her Feather
As Alexis got older, she dated a black man. This caused her mother to put her in a mental institution. These institutions were called “hospitals,” but they specialized in treating psychiatric patients. If you didn’t fit in to what society understood, then you were sent to one of these “hospitals”. Videos from the 1950’s promoting these “hospitals”, make them look more like a prison than a hospital. Is it any wonder that she escaped?
Alexis became a ward of the state and was sent to a girl’s industrial school. Her path eventually brought her together with a group of souls where she found peace and acceptance. History refers to groups like the one Alexis joined as hippies. Even now, as she nears the final years of life, Alexis considers herself a hippie.
As part of the group, Alexis found herself surrounded by birds and thoughts of birds. It was a point in her life where she was focused on birds. Perhaps it was because birds have a freedom that she longed for. Since Alexis identified with birds, she decided to change her name to “Free Feather,” but her friends just call her Feather.
Her Life is a Miracle
As a young woman living on her own in Cleveland, Feather lived in an apartment on the ground level of the building. One night a man snuck in to her apartment through the bathroom window. He stabbed her seven times, then stabbed her again in the neck and began choking her.
Subdued and motionless, Feather felt something wet and warm on her. Looking up, she saw her attacker ejaculating on her. She got up and tried to run but could not get away from him.
When he chased her, Feather swung back and hit him with a force not her own. She hit him so hard that he flew backwards across the room. Taking the opportunity to escape, Feather dove through a plate glass window and landed on the ground in front of a mother and her young son as they were walking by.
Bloodied and almost lifeless, Feather lay where she landed and heard the little boy said, “Look Mommie, she can’t breathe.”
Feather was transported to the hospital where she underwent a surgery that lasted hours. The doctor said that she should not have made it off the operating table. Clearly, Jesus Christ had other plans.
Her Deepest Wound
Having suffered so much by the hands of an unknown assailant, it wasn’t the knife of her aggressor that caused her life’s deepest wound. Looking back over the years, Feather says her deepest wound was feeling abandoned by her mother. There is no knife on earth that can wound a heart or soul more deeply than the words or actions of one so close to us. My friends, life was not meant to be this way.
Through it all, Feather has learned to be true to herself and never let anyone discourage her from being who she is. She shares this advice with anyone who would listen.
In time, life blossomed for Feather. Her simple loves are reading, writing, cooking and Chinese food. Feather says that she deeply loves people, but when it comes to her children, Feather confesses that she loves them more than anything in this world. Feather, an only child, had 6 children of her own, although tragedy took one many years ago.
I think Feather loves her children so deeply because she knows firsthand how precious a treasure, children really are and how important it is to pour out on them every ounce of love she can. And she doesn’t hold back that love.
Love is Jesus Christ
Of course, nothing compares to her love for Jesus. Feather adamantly says that Jesus Christ is love and love is Jesus Christ. In fact, Feather believes that love is the greatest force on the planet and I would agree with her. She would tell you that life is framed by the two greatest commandments. They are:
- “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and
- “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27
It is a beautiful thing to see a life grow from adversity to a being of love. She is one who is driven by a force so great yet so gentle as the purest form of love that Jesus Christ pours out on His children.
Out of the wounds of her life, God has created a unique and beautiful soul that shines in the darkness for all to see. If you meet her, you will not soon forget her. And this light that has been forged by the only living God, will shine brightly forever and ever.
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