Here I Am

It occurs to me I didn’t tell you a whole lot about myself in my last post. A few nuggets were tucked in there, but not many. I figure you might want to know a bit about who is writing all this stuff.

I mentioned I’m from West Virginia, and I’ve studied sociological topics. A big obvious chunk of info was the fact that I’m married. But, all of those things are not really enough to get a well-rounded picture.

So here goes….

I’m a forty-eight year old woman and I don’t mind admitting my age. I love being in my near fifties. For me, my advancing age has brought on a lot of freedom. My teenage years and early twenties were filled with self-confidence issues. Thankfully, life experience lets me leave those problems behind. I am looking forward to the day when I can honestly say I’m an old fart, and glory in my old fartedness.

Plus, I like to think I have put my wisdom and experience to excellent use. More on that in a later blog. (Now might be a good time to tell you I’m not always humble.)

As stated previously, I was born and raised in southern West Virginia (the Oakvale/Princeton area, to be exact) but later moved to the Midwest (near Madison, Wisconsin). I’ll be getting more into the topic of my West Virginia roots later on. Suffice to say, for now, I’m grateful for my beginnings.

As far as Wisconsin goes, turns out, six months of winter isn’t really my thing. And it was never the hubby’s thing. A few months ago, mid-pandemic, we packed up the dog and cat, armed ourselves with masks and hand sanitizer, and fled to Virginia. So far, we’ve been happy and  WARM! (It was 16 degrees below zero when we left Wisconsin.)

On to the family….

I have three sons and two stepsons, ranging in age from 18-26. You probably won’t read much about them, specifically or individually, just because it seems rude to go blasting their details via the internet. Expect a lot of vague “the boys” phrasing when it comes to them.

I will say they are all good people, and that is high praise from me. I would rather folks be good than anything else in life.

Moving on….

Writing is something I like to do (obviously).

In fact, most of the family enjoys it but we do have our issues with it.  First of all, it’s hard to “be” a writer. How much scribbling and practice and frustrated crumpling up of paper does it take for one to be able to say “I’m a writer”? And, finding the time is hard. Part of the reason I began this blog is to get in the habit of writing. But also, we have all this creativity in the family, and folks with plenty to say…..who knows….maybe “the boys” (told ya’ I’d use that phrase) will end up sharing some of their thoughts here, too.

Continuing on with who I am…

Reading is an absolute passion of mine. You may see my book recommendations, now and then. Ok, maybe more than “now and then”.

I was gonna say I don’t have a preference for any particular type of book, but as I was typing it, I realized it was a lie. I hate, hate, HATE sad endings. I growl, grumble, and generally curse, when literature teachers and professors offer up only grim reading material as great literature. They argue it’s realistic. I think the opposite is true. Life isn’t all good nor all bad. Realism is about a mix. So, if you are someone who teaches literature, know I want you to offer up some happy books and stories, along with the woe-is-me stuff. I am going to try to avoid a rant here (honestly, I really am), but in one of my college lit classes, every single story ended in multiple deaths. Every. Single. Story. Can you imagine going into that class depressed? Yikes! So…anyway…I prefer happy stories as a counterbalance to the push for death and dismemberment as realism. Most importantly, we all face struggles in real life. A bit of happy escapism is good for the soul.

Last, but certainly not least, I’m married to the love of my life.

I had to take a big pause to think about that last statement. Not because I doubted the truthfulness of it, but because we have the kind of thing that is hard to describe. Here’s my attempt: For everyone out there who has ever read about a loving couple in a book…..you know the type, the elderly people who still hold hands, or the two lovers who face all of their problems head-on together, or the married couple who talk out all of their problems, or the long married duo who still laugh and play in the kitchen…..and if you’ve wanted to be in THAT kind of relationship, but don’t know if it will happen. Wait for it. It’s real. It’s out there. You can find it. (And you may make a few mistakes while searching for it, but that’s ok.)

That’s what my marriage is like. It’s the kind of together-ness which makes you believe all of the good things you’ve ever heard about love.

(Ooooh, that got gooshy, didn’t it? For fairness, I’ll add it is a second marriage. It took me a few tries to get it right.)

Ok. Those are my important facts, so you have some idea of where I’m coming from.

Where I’m going is anybody’s guess!