My name is Donna Amelia Howell Richardson and I was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida.  My father worked for Southern Bell and my mother was a stay-at-home mom.  I attended East 44th Street Baptist Church, which was just two blocks from my home from birth until I was around 26 and we moved our family to San Mateo.  My husband and I both were baptized at that little church, and I sang in the choir there for many years alongside a very influential Christian role model named Yvonne White.  I never forgot her influence in my life and can still hear her singing “His Eye is on the Sparrow” in my dreams.  She had a beautiful soprano voice.
I always enjoyed writing, even in my little diary as a small child.  I had an English teacher at Andrew Jackson High School, Mrs. Harvey, who told me I should be a writer.  I was very encouraged by her words and continued jotting down verses and poems for the rest of my life.  I married my high school sweetheart, Steven Richardson, at the age of 19, and together we began the journey of building a family and continuing our educations.  We both received a Bachelors and Masters Degree from the University of North Florida, and I went back for my Doctorate’s Degree at UNF.  My education enabled me to become an English teacher at N.B. Forrest High School in 1985, twelve years after I had had my first child.  I stayed at home during my two children’s formative years, and enjoyed being PTA president at San Mateo Elementary School, and just pleasured in being a mother to my offspring prior to jumping into a very busy career for the next 33 years.  Throughout my busy career and letting life just roll over me, I took moments to compose some of my deepest thoughts.  I wrote all of these on pieces of paper and just tucked them away until I decided to share them with the world.  I am up in years now, and hope to keep writing the next thirty years so I can produce a second volume to my heart-felt feelings.