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The Girl Left Behind – Who My Mother Was Before I Lost Her

My mother, Frances Marion Bell, was born on January 25, 1925, in Oakland, California. It was a cold, rainy January day. Her parents, George E. Bell and Helen Bell, welcomed their second daughter into the world with love. According to my grandfather, her birth was quick.

They named her Frances Marion.

My grandfather had been born in England, and my grandmother, Helen, in Massachusetts. Whether they chose the name because of its meaning or simply because they loved it, I’ll never know. But it suited her perfectly.

The name Frances is often associated with freedom, independence, and a strong sense of self. My mother embodied those qualities. She was a free spirit, quietly confident and deeply compassionate.

Since her […]

By Doré Frances|2026-08-06T12:32:47-06:00August 6th, 2026|Collections, The Girl Left Behind Collections, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

Beneath My Silence – If Love Finds Me Again

If love ever finds me again, I hope it arrives gently. I hope it’s someone who hears the words I never quite know how to say, and understands the silence between them.

Someone who delights in the little things ~

not because they are grand, but because they matter to me.

Someone who chooses me, even on ordinary days, and reminds me through small, quiet gestures that I am never an afterthought. I hope for a heart that feels like home ~

steady, kind, and unwavering.

A presence that brings peace rather than uncertainty. A hand that reaches for mine when life becomes difficult, without waiting to be asked. Someone who protects not by control, but […]

By Doré Frances|2026-08-06T11:01:56-06:00August 6th, 2026|Beneath My Silence - Poems, Collections, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

Whispers To The Soul – When the Heart Goes Unspoken

There is something within us that longs to be expressed. The more we give voice to what lives inside us ~

our joy, our sorrow, our fears, our hopes ~

the more fully alive we become.

Expression is not merely speaking; it is allowing what is within us to find its rightful place in the world.

What remains unspoken does not simply disappear. It settles quietly beneath the surface. Over time, those unspoken feelings can create distance between our heart and our daily lives.

They become layers we learn to live around, until we forget they are there. We may begin to believe that life itself has grown dull, when in truth […]

By Doré Frances|2026-07-30T14:51:30-06:00July 30th, 2026|Emotional Healing, Whispers To The Soul Collections, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

Beneath My Silence – Alone, Yet Never Lonely

Being alone is simply a circumstance. It is neither good nor bad. It is a quiet place where we can hear our own thoughts, discover our own strength, and become comfortable in our own company.

Loneliness is something different. It is not measured by the number of people around us, but by the ache within our hearts.

It can visit even in a crowded room and leave us feeling unseen.

I may walk through life alone, but I am not lonely, for I have learned to befriend myself. I have found peace in quiet moments and comfort in simply being. Still, there are days when loneliness quietly arrives. It reminds me that I long […]

By Doré Frances|2026-07-30T12:45:22-06:00July 30th, 2026|Beneath My Silence - Poems, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

Beneath My Silence – That Is Where Life Truly Begins

Don’t simply endure life or drift through it on autopilot. Be fully present.

Meet each day with intention, curiosity, and an open heart. Create something that belongs to you. Whether it’s a painting, a garden, a story, an act of kindness, or a life you can look back on with quiet satisfaction, pour yourself into it. Let your work reflect your values, your character, and the unique gifts only you can offer.

Never measure its worth by the applause of others. If it is honest and true, it already matters. Life isn’t about waiting for circumstances to improve or hoping the world will someday become easier.

It’s about showing up ~

again and again ~

with the courage to create, to love, to learn, and […]

By Doré Frances|2026-07-30T12:45:40-06:00July 27th, 2026|Beneath My Silence - Poems, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

Beneath My Silence – The People We Can Never Return To

There is a quiet kind of grief few people speak about. It arrives the moment you sit across from someone you once loved dearly and realize the person you remember no longer lives there.

Their face is familiar. Their voice is the same. But something essential has quietly changed. You search for the laughter you once knew, the ease you once shared, the feeling of coming home in their presence. Instead, you meet a stranger wearing a familiar name. Time has a way of changing us all. We shed old dreams, old fears, old versions of ourselves.

Sometimes we grow together.

Sometimes we grow apart. And perhaps that is one of life’s gentlest heartbreaks ~

understanding that you will […]

By Doré Frances|2026-07-26T12:09:35-06:00July 26th, 2026|Beneath My Silence - Poems, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

The Girl Left Behind – The First Adult Who Saw Me

By the time I climbed into my parents’ station wagon, I had been trying to run away for nearly a year. I hadn’t volunteered to go to Stanford.

Dotti told me we were going to a doctor’s appointment. Instead, she drove me to a psychiatric evaluation program in Palo Alto, about eleven miles from our home. As we walked inside, I was greeted by women in uniforms carrying clipboards. Then Dotti quietly slipped away. I can still picture her from behind. Her tall, elegant posture and silver hair disappearing through the doorway.

I didn’t know it then, but she had convinced my father that I was mentally ill, an “out-of-control” teenager who belonged in an institution.

In some ways, […]

By Doré Frances|2026-07-30T14:25:30-06:00July 23rd, 2026|Collections, The Girl Left Behind Collections, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

Beneath My Silence – The Heart That Chose Kindness

It is one of life’s quieter sorrows ~

discovering that being kind does not guarantee kindness in return. You can offer your best, show up with an open heart, love without keeping score, and still be met with silence, distance, or disappointment. That does not mean your kindness was misplaced. It simply means not every heart has learned to love in the same way.

Do not let another person’s choices convince you to become someone you were never meant to be.

Let their actions belong to them. Let your compassion belong to you. The world needs more hearts that choose goodness without demanding reward, more souls that remain gentle even after being wounded.

So keep choosing kindness ~

not […]

By Doré Frances|2026-07-26T12:09:26-06:00July 16th, 2026|Beneath My Silence - Poems, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments