The Song writer Luther Vandross has a song called, When a house is no longer a home. He sings about how it is just empty and lonely with out the women that he loves. I never paid attention to that song until recently because I understand what he means.
A house is a special place where you are free to do anything you want. You take your time and decorate each room with the perfect colors and decorations. People take so much time preparing for guest to come in and admire how nice you have made your home. I can remember when my husband and I combined houses we went through his things and my things and we picked what was nicer and newer to stay and we sold or donated the rest. I can remember how my husband would brag and tell my family and his friends how I had two cheap pillows, and cheap sheets before we got married. He would laugh and say, “now she act brand new because she is sleeping on the most expensive sheets, and has eight pillows on the bed, and leaves me with just two pillows”. I would laugh so hard because he was telling the truth. You see I lived in a house, but in 2015 it became a home filled with love, joy, laughter, and pure happiness. It was a home where when that man walked through the door I smiled and was happy that he was home. It was a home when he would move through the house cleaning and cooking I smiled and was Thankful for a man who took care of things when I was tired. It was a home that smelled of Kenneth Cole cologne on Sunday Morning’s as he got dress to go to church to Preach. It was a home where we laid in bed and watched television together, and prayed before we went to bed at night. In 2019 on this day at 10:30 p.m. my home was no longer a home, it became a house with walls, floors, and a foundation. The love, laughter, and joy is no longer here. I move from room to room trying to make sense of what is next for my life. I look at the walls and I think a fresh coat of paint will help change the atmosphere and make things better, that has not helped. I even went and added more pillows to fill the empty space in the bed, that has not helped. I realize that my house will no longer be a home without my love here to share it with me.
About Jamie Foster
Jamie Foster resides in Daphne, Alabama with her daughter and two grand puppies. On January 10, 2019 at 10:30 p.m. her life was shattered as the man that God kept for her suffered a heart attack in his sleep. A fairytale that began so beautifully just three years prior ended in tragedy. She made a statement two years before she started dating Rev. Kenneth Foster, as he preached a sermon at her church. She said to a friend, “I am going to marry Rev. Foster one day, and make him a very good wife”. Two years later, after about 4 dinner dates, Kenneth told her; that God showed him that she was his wife. They married a few months later on November 28, 2015. In three years, they lived out their wedding vows richer, poorer, sickness, health, and till death do us part.
She never imagined that she could feel so much pain in her entire body!! The love of her life the man she prayed for is now gone. She immediately began to question everything she knew, everything she believed in.
After Kenneth’s death, she had nothing else to hold on to but the Faith that they talked about, the Faith that he preached about. The road is a difficult one, but she pushes forward. On this journey, she has come in contact with women all over the world who share the same grief and the same pain that she does. She started to find comfort and joy in knowing that others understood her heartache and pain.
In 2021, she left her full-time job to focus on her Mental Health. She became the CEO of Foster & Foster H.R. Solutions, an Independent Insurance Agent, a blogger of Foundation of Truths, a Motivational Speaker, and she is penning the pages to a book that is long overdue.
Jamie always knew that her gift, was her powerful voice and she is walking in her purpose. It is to help encourage, motivate, inspire, and lift up all of her fellow sisters as we are all on this journey together. She lives each day no matter how hard, by the words of Jeremiah 29:11 “I know the plans he has for me”.