Weeping Willows Dance — Gloria Mallette

In 1929, by the age of fifteen, Mozelle already knew that she did not want to grow up to be like her mama, a sharecropper's wife. She did not want to get married and, for certain, she did not want twelve children. Mozelle dreamed of getting a good job, of buying herself a car, and of traveling across country a carefree woman--nobody and nothing hanging onto her skirt tail.

That is until tall, dark, handsome Randell Tate, twenty-two years Mozelle's senior, showed up in church that fateful Sunday morning and winked at her, throwing Mozelle's world off-balance. Three months later they wed and Randell carried Mozelle across the threshold into The Great Depression. Her children were born and, against all odds, Mozelle set her sights on buying a piece of land and building a house to put a roof over their heads. To realize that dream, Mozelle was going to have to squirrel away her pennies and in the end, build her house with her own two hands---husband or not.

Abiding by her parents' teachings, Mozelle stays loyal and faithful in her marriage to Randell, although Randell holds no vow sacred. The hard bed that Mozelle's father had warned that she had made for herself by marrying Randell, became less and less comfortable to sleep in, but Mozelle found comfort in turning to the Lord to see her through the storm.

Mozelle is every woman who squares her shoulders and vows to rise above a bad marriage and the excruciating poverty that binds her. Blessed with true grit and a strong backbone, Mozelle stands her ground and sways with the breeze of disappointment and the winds of deprivation. Her determination and her unshakeable faith in God, like the supple branches of the weeping willow tree are strong and unbreakable, thereby proving that Weeping Willows Dance.