CAMPING OUT WASHINGTON STYLE

It was raining so hard and could not find a man to go with us, so we ended up at one of the girl's weekend homes on Lake Tapps. They said "we'll be sleeping in the basement." Well their basement had a theatre in it, snack bar, pool table, ping-pong table, hockey table, fireplace, also a big screen T.V., indoor pool , indoor and outdoor hot tubs, inside basketball court, sauna, and don't forget 3 BATHROOMS, craft room, and honestly I can't remember all the things "in the basement." Yes, you can be a sissy girl here in WA. and be a camper! Oh the life. What can I say?

One Year Ago Today.

   One year ago today my sweet mother passed away from breast cancer. Living here in the Pacific Northwest, and mom in Arizona was hard because I was not able to be there helping with her everyday needs.
   For Mother’s Day last year, I flew down to spend it with her. My brother and his wife drove down from Utah, and my other siblings lived there by mom. So it turned out all her kids were there for her “day”. I knew that this would be my last time of celebrating her as a mother, wife, and woman. She had raised four children in a God fearing home. She came from a wonderful heritage of strong, good, honest, hard working people.
   I always say I’m orphaned now. With both parents gone, there is no one to call and tell all the funny things my kids did. Or tell them a joke I know they’d love. I still need my mom with cooking! When I can’t remember recipes or how long something is suppose to cook for. No holidays to share with them. It is selfish of me to want my mother to have lived longer. No one wants to see someone they love suffer in pain. Dad died of pancreas cancer ten yrs. before mom. Now they can be together again. But darn it! I still want my mommy and daddy.
   Yes, I will remember this day forever. One more scar for me. This one is still tender, but with time it will heal, and I will continue to grow, and maybe I just might grow up.

Our Scars Should Be Worn With Pride.

“Scars remind us where we’ve been. They don’t have to dictate where we’re going.”

I've always held to the belief that the (I would like to change this sentence to be-- that people who explore by some means find their light out of the dark.) As teenagers, as adults, as people – we are all at one time or another on a journey to find clarity through chaos, peace through turmoil, calm through storm, safety through fear and doubt. The path on which we traverse is not easy. We don’t generally give up, though. We keep going. And, why? Because the promise of good over evil, of happiness over sadness, of healing over illness, is too great to ignore. It is the light we’re all of us trying to reach in whatever way we can. And as we make our way through the ills, the doubts, the hindrances, the barriers, the pain, the ugliness, we become stronger. We survive. We grow. We share our stories so others don’t feel so alone, so we don’t feel so alone.

The scars of living a life can be enormous, overwhelming, desperate. I hold to the notion that it’s these same scars that, if handled gently and allowed to heal properly, can become our personal roadmaps to finding ourselves to be braver, stronger, better prepared than we ever thought imaginable. Better prepared to be mentors, parents, healers, lovers, storytellers – in a position to share our lives with others in order to secure for our world the sense of hopefulness, of right, of kindness and human connection that is so essential to our future.

This is just a part of a blog by Emma D. Dryden. I have so many times related almost word for word these exact feelings. As I look back over my scars, I realize they have made me who I am. My life has been an adventure. Now, I want to share some of those adventures with others, in my writing of children's books. You don't have to let the scars dictate who you are and where you can go.

Quote For The Day

"Twenty years from now you will be more dissapointed by the things that  you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowliness. Sail away from the harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover."      ~Mark Twain

Sad to have it end.

Tonight is the last meeting of the year for our SCBWI. It makes me kinda sad, because I just started getting to know other members. Now I'll have to wait tell next fall for the meetings to start up again. But the good news is, some of the other writers and I are going to keep meeting in Olympia during the summer.  I'm so close to getting this first book out, that I don't want a vacation of no writing.

Quote for the day

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss

I'm still waiting to get my book back from Peggy who has been editing for me. My nerves are getting worn out waiting to see what I need to do next.