Saturday, February 21, 2009

A Bit More About Me

In 2008 I celebrated my 50th year on this earth and can say without reservation or complaint that there have been very few years in my life that passed by without trials and tribulations. I can also say that in spite of those days, weeks, and months that were more down than up, I have been happy most of the time.

I met the love of my life when I was in my thirties. My first (and only) marriage was his third. And, I got a ready made family out of the deal! I have a step-son, now married so add a daughter-in-law, and not one but two grand-daughters. I also have a step-daughter, also now married, and also with two little girls.

I count myself very fortunate that these children care about me. I know that is not always the case in step-families, but I’ve been blessed.

One of the most touching moments in my life was when at Christmas one year, they presented me with a “mother” necklace. I cried and cried, just at the thought of it.

My four little baby girls call me grandma or nana, and the two oldest ones think it is a real hoot to spend the weekend at grandma and grandpa’s house. By the way, they also have this silly little belief that the best place in the house to sleep at night is grandma’s closet!!

In my fifty years, I’ve had oh, probably 20 jobs, some of them I even called “careers”. I have worked as a mother’s helper, an insurance agent, a store manager, have loaded fertilizer and anhydrous at a farm supply business, worked as a maid in a motel, worked for Wal-Mart in their photo department, served as the Chief Financial Officer for a Not-for-Profit organization, and most recently I’ve become a seller on eBay, and a freelance writer, working primarily for the Lincoln Daily News In Lincoln Illinois (by the way, I am available for hire if you need a writer).

Writing was a first love, that didn’t develop into a career until just recently.

When I was in high school, I loved writing and journalism; I worked on the school paper, wrote a bi-weekly article for the local community paper, and even managed to win a writing contest for a fiction piece I wrote.

When I graduated high school, I wanted to go into newspaper reporting, but needed more than just a high school education, so I went another direction, taking a job at a department store. Later I became a typist in an office, and then moved to working in a soil lab, and then, after several years out of high school, I decided to go to college. Instead of studying journalism though, I chose to major in Agriculture.

I could have and probably should have gone with journalism, but then again, had I done that I would not have been working in a feed store where I met my hubs. So, as he always says, “things happen the way they are supposed to”, and I can’t find fault with that in this particular case, because I cannot imagine life without him, those two kids, and four little grand-girls.

Once my hubs and I were visiting with my favorite uncle, and I don’t remember the exact conversation, except that at one time, my uncle told the hubs that I was a “very complicated woman”. I guess that is true. My interests are wide and varied, and my opinions on matters are often very strong.

As a writer for a newspaper, I can’t say in my articles how I feel about things as they are happening, so I may end up using this blog as my “vent”, but I also intend to share with you articles I’ve written, stories that mix fact with fiction, and peeks at the produce business that hubs is in during the summer months.

I hope you enjoy, and come back often.