Growing Up
After Marriage
Life hasn’t always been easy, but I’ve managed through fifty-nine years of it so far.
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I’ve been a daughter, a sister, a friend, a wife, and a mother.
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Music shaped me, photography opened my eyes, and now I write what I imagine.
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My fur babies inspire me.
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I find kindness in others. My faith, in love, hope and the goodness in others, guides me as I journey my final thirty or forty years on this earth.
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Before Marriage
I look back at all these pictures and wonder, "Why was I picked on? Why was I teased so relentlessly? Why did I not defend myself?"
I was a cute little girl, but awkward and definitely not athletic. I could swim rather well, but never had the stamina to go very long.
School after 2nd grade was awful. Academically, I poured my soul into doing well so that: 1. My mother wouldn't yell at me and 2. I could say I was good at something.
Every Sunday, wearing itchy tights, ill-fitting shoes, and hand-me-down clothes, I marched to Sunday school with my sisters. Though it was a reprieve from the teasing, I still got the feeling that I, (we) weren't quite up to snuff.
Before I graduated from High School, my two older sisters and I joined the Army Reserves.
I joined under the split option program. I did basic training at Fort Jackson, SC. After that, I began my first year as a music student at WVU. My reserve unit let me work in the office answering phones since I had no formal training. I completed my AIT the following summer in Indiana. I returned to my unit ready to do what I learned but they had filled my office spot. So I learned how to drive forklifts. One summer during our AT, I lifted a freight car.
I did that for three years before learning there was a National Guard band in Fairmont that needed a piano player.
Despite my affinity for playing rather than studying in college, I did obtain my degree in piano pedagogy. I have many crazy college stories to tell, but that's its own book.
I started my master's at Temple University and ended up Marrying the love of my life instead. I followed him around on his 25-year military career in the United States Army Band. Two tours in Heidelberg, Germany turned my daughter into a world traveler. My son Ryan learned to cook.
The kids have their own lives now. I am to be a granny soon.
I spend my time taking pictures, writing books, and basically trying new ways of doing more writing.
I have several short stories almost ready to publish and three novels at various stages of completion.
You can check out my kids books at