Introduction

I've been struggling for awhile with who I am and what I want to be doing with my life. The short answer is - well, duh - my life right now is pretty well set in stone. And it is, but within that life, who do I want to be? It's not enough for me anymore to just be a wife, just be a step-mom, just be a grandma, just be an assistant, just be a member of my church. I want to do....something.

Three thoughts came to me over and over and over again.

1) My most vivid memory of school growing up is the 4th grade. We were two classes combined into one and we had two teachers. Our days were divided into going to different stations. The only station I remember was the writing station. They had pictures laminated in a file and you had to pick a picture and write whatever story you could come up with. I LOVED that station. I don't remember anything else about that year when it came to learning. I don't remember much from any other years directly related to learning. I still think about writing those stories to those pictures.

2) My senior year of high school in our English class there was one rule. If you had a fragmented sentence in your essays it was an automatic F. No questions asked. Everything else could be fine and if you had a fragmented sentence too bad. Everyone dreaded getting stuck with her in their senior year because she was so strict about her rules - especially that one. One essay was for the book "Cry, the Beloved Country". It was about apartheid and to say I was passionate about it was an understatement. She starts to give the papers back to the class after grading them and she announces that although I had a fragmented sentence in my essay, she couldn't possibly fail me because the rest of it was so good. So she chalked the fragmented sentence up to artistic license and gave me an A-. Two things I learned....when the teacher makes an announcement like that, you're classmates hate you for at least a week and I loved writing the essay so much that compliment was just a bonus

3) Completely unrelated to writing I heard somewhere that if you wanted to truly be an actor, to try out for the local theater. The numbers of people who actually get famous by acting is extremely low, but acting is acting.

So it dawned on me that I really want to start writing again. I've already started collecting pictures. I've started a couple of writing exercises. And I decided to start a blog.

Then I tried to decide what to write about....what could I possibly have to write about in a blog? Well, let's see. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who were born with heart defects. I know there are a lot of recovering alcoholics and drug addicts out there. I know there are a lot of migraine sufferers out there. I know there are other women who have grown step-kids with grandchildren that aren't theirs by blood but by heart. I know there are other women married to men in wheelchairs. I know there are a lot of people who are hearing and work in the deaf/hard of hearing community. I know there are a lot of women who are members of the church of Christ. And I know there are a lot of NASCAR, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, Dallas Cowboy fans out there. But I also know that I'm the only fruit basket turnover of all those things that I know of. So I'm pretty sure I have a few things I can write about here.

And my ego would like to point out that, while yes, I am writing for the sake of writing itself....it would be nice to have people actually read what I write. Am I going to be a published novelist...probably not. But it would also be nice to have an audience beyond the notebook in my bedroom.

Love,
JK