Going Plaid in a Solid Gray World

Since 2015, Tammy Wilson has offered readers a unique perspective of life in Catawba County through her column "A Fork in the Road." Through her writing, Tammy captures the essence of what it means to be fully human in our time and place.

These 135 essays offer commentary on such topics as greeting-card glitter, going plaid in a solid gray world and wearing white shoes after Labor Day. But there are weightier subjects too: storms, COVID, slave narratives and war casualties. Interspersed throughout are slices of humor that feel as if you're chatting over the backyard fence.

As executive director of The Corner Table, Inc. I am pleased to partner with Tammy, who is an honoree of this year's Bakers Dozen Women's Society-local women charged with raising vital funds to support our mission of feeding the hungry. Proceeds from the sale of this book will help provide hope for the less fortunate in our community. Opinions expressed in the essays are the author's alone; they do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of The Corner Table or its affiliates.

The Corner Table provides free meals in a family-friendly restaurant setting through our soup kitchen program, as well as to-go bags each Friday for our guests to cover another meal. We also coordinate the county-wide backpack program for local school children and prepare and distribute frozen meals throughout the county to individuals who are homebound or need additional meals outside of our lunch service. Last year alone, The Corner Table served nearly 32,000 guests and 1,569 school children. That's no small potatoes.

I hope that you will savor these collected essays from "A Fork in the Road."

Sincere appreciation to all who have helped get this project into the oven and onto the table. Thanks to Gayle Coyne for her encouragement; to Sylvia Bajorek, Janet Ford, and Candace Tippett for editorial excellence; to the Hickory Daily Record, Lincoln Herald and Observer-News-Enterprise for agreeing to see these pieces morph into a book; and to the fine folks at Redhawk Publications for taking this fledgling under their wings.

I am forever indebted to my husband Tym, who figured into many of the essays and proofread many of them as early drafts. I miss him more than we could ever imagine.