In a year of heart-shaking stories, this is the face that keeps coming back to me.

“People call me Elizabeth or Mama. The soul food restaurant with a family member didn’t take off that well in Mobile. An opportunity came up in this Chevron gas station in Fairhope and I have been here for four years. They like the soul food in Fairhope and this was a blessing. I was in a hard place and was about to lose my home. I had no money and no product. The Lord put me here and it is easy to drive the 45 minutes each way. I run this by myself and everything fell into place like it was meant to be. I love my customers and they are helping me grow.

Cooking is a passion. It has never been a job. I have been a nurse, a bail bondsman, and worked at convenience stores. Those were jobs and I trained my kids to work. I had a janitorial business and they were my crew. We cleaned all of the First National Bank buildings. I sat with a private patient from 11 at night until 7 in the morning. I got the boys off to school, then went to the nursing home from 8 to 2. I fed the boys after school, then we cleaned buildings. We came home and I took a little nap before I went to care for my patient. I would nap a little more while my patient slept. I don’t know how I made it through that, but you do what you have to do to take care of your kids. My sister was an addict and my mother and I raised her children. My granddaughter was the valedictorian of Blount High School this year and we are very close. She is going into law and is going to make a good lawyer. She was born on Oct. 24. My birthday was Oct. 25. My daughter tried to hold her until my birthday. I told her, ‘Girl, let that baby go. I have to get to the casino.’

I go to the casino and play Bingo. I once won $56,000 and gave most of it away. My mama always told me I would never be rich because I would give it all away. She was right. Everyone had money and I didn’t. I should have paid my car off. When I get something and can bless someone, it is an answered prayer. Lord let me help someone. The joy is not the money, it’s what money can do. If I can pay a bill and keep you from worrying, that is what I am going to do. God puts people in your path to keep you moving. I have fallen on my face so many times. There are a few things I wish I could go back and change, but not many.

I pray over the food I cook every day. Psalms 23 is my lift up. As the grits bubble in the morning, I pray ‘God is great, God is good, let us thank him for this food.’ I get up at 2:30 every morning and walk my dog. I stop by Walmart and get here about 4:30 a.m. to start breakfast. I make grit bowls with bacon, egg and cheese, or sausage egg and cheese. Every Friday I make ribs. I try to make something different for lunch every day. I leave here at 4 p.m. and go to the store and start preparing for tomorrow today. When football season starts, I will cook every day. I do 18 flavors of wings. Officer Miller in the Fairhope police makes the pound cakes like grandma used to make. I am not a baker because I don’t like measuring things. I do like my grandma did, with a pinch of this and a dab of that. My mother was a single parent and my grandmother watched us. She taught us how to cook, iron, sew, and mend.

The name is Soulful Deli. God blesses you to bless someone else. I pray for people who come through here. People cry on my shoulder and I cry with them. You don’t have to be a minister to be in the ministry. People just need a hug, a smile, or a kind word. I give out all of that with my food and my customers give it right back.”

Thank you to everyone who reads these stories and sees the humanity and beauty in each one. Sometimes even seeing yourself. Thank you for the comments of support and encouragement and the times you have reached out to help. No man is an island and I hope Souls is a reminder that we are all in this life together. Here is to a new decade and new ways of connecting to each other.