Easter is My Spring Forward Renewal Day

In the search for one's dreams, there are many paths that you can take. Some people forge right into them from birth. It seems like they start to conquer their hopes and dreams from the minute they
leave the womb. Others stumble around their entire lives and never really find what they are looking for. Hopefully they connect and live a fulfilling life but they may wonder about the “what if they had” concerning other decisions in their lives. Most of us fall in the middle of the pack. We start and stop along the path of life, running in a straight line sometimes, walking backwards at others and striding into the future with confidence when we can.

To sit and really think about the opportunities that our lives present to us is pretty awesome. There are those moments when you are right on point and in stride like when you land your first job - the one you really wanted, but didn't think you would get. Or when you have your children, and the miracle of birth stares at you with innocent eyes and clings to just your finger with their tiny fist. Watching your spouse, friend or child making the steps that lead them to bigger and better things in their lives. These all make us realize that life itself is pretty amazing.

Since I have been following my dream of writing and churning out books and stories and a lot of mess, I realized that there were times I missed an opportunity. A chance to make a dream come closer to reality. There are so many what ifs that sometimes I have let those overwhelm my actual life.
So I am trying to take a deep breath and go on, go on blogging even if I am the only one reading some of them. Go on writing, even if no one has broken my door down to fight over my manuscripts. Go on living, because each day is by itself pretty awesome.

My mind may get overwhelmed with reality at times, but along comes a wake-up call and you remember that life is great. Some days just the act of putting one foot in front of the other is all I can do, but that makes the other days of wonderment, joy, happiness, and overwhelming contentment all that much better. My mother told me you have to go through the down years in your life, because they make the up years, moments, hours, minutes, all that much sweeter. She was a wise woman.

Go on now, why are you sitting there thinking about what you want to do, go do it. Don't wait until the half century point of your life has passed you by, before you get back to one of the things that you love to do. Easter is my Spring Forward Renewal date. The time of year that I think about all the blessings I have in my life and feel Everything is possible. So go on, get started. My pen is waiting on me.

My One Word Resolution for 2018 is Present!

To be Present in my life may seem like a no-brainer for a resolution, but I know from

a lot of personal experience that we often let everything get in the way of our enjoyment of our life. So while I will probably struggle sometimes to let myself enjoy everything, I am going to try my best to really be present in the moment and live every minute of my life to the fullest in 2018. My life is pretty awesome, so why I let things that I cannot control ruin it for me, is beyond my comprehension anyway. 

Worry is my middle name. I can let it ruin parts and too often the whole day. I can think, analyze, dissect, and thoroughly pull apart certain aspects of my day and life while  totally overthinking the situation. This will lead me to worry about the things that I have no control over and miss pieces of my life that are wonderful and memorable. I know that's such a trite thing to say - Be Present in the Moments of Your life! David Thoreau had it right, 

Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.
Henry David Thoreau

And even though I will probably struggle with this resolution, I am determined to try. And to try something with your whole being, is really all you can do in life. Be present, try your best,  and oft times we reach the prize we were aiming for. My goals are to relish the ride, finish my manuscript, publish a short story, love my family and by all means - enjoy the Present! And while I didn't meet my goals for this year, that's okay. Look at what I did accomplish this year and going forward I will enjoy every minute of my life and my time with those that I love.  

What is your resolution? Do you make a resolution/goal for the next year? Look forward to hearing from some of you and to hearing your goals and/or resolutions. Happy New Year!

Let's make 2018 a wonderful year with lots of family, love, being present and books!

Lucky Enough - A Writer's Life for Me!

     I've probably bored you all before with the way I came to finally trying to put the books running through my head down on paper, but here goes again. Writing and reading have always been two things I am passionate about. I thought about a life in the halls of an English department but changed my mind as a young person does while in college.
Actually I changed my mind multiple times about a major.

     I ended up in the School of Business at East Carolina University and enjoyed an average
college career while learning a lot. Loved my Business Law professor and enjoyed working for the Head of the Finance Dept. During my last year of college I did meet the love of my life and as we are want to do, my career plans changed. They probably would be on this path anyway, but we can not look back and change things. Needless to say that falling head over heels was the best thing I have ever done. My husband and I have been married for 30+ years and I still wonder at my good fortune, or as my husband occasionally reminds me, my choice in becoming "The Luckiest Girl in the World".

     When our daughter was born, I began telling her stories of different adventures and magical dogs that protected her at night while she slept. We would read and take adventures in our heads when possible. I always meant to write them down and have my little brother illustrate them as he is quite the artist. Time passes and I loved being a wife and mother and PTA President among other things. We moved around and I was lucky enough to make some wonderful friends along the way. When we decided to start our own business and move back to North Carolina, we plunged head-first off the mountain of faith. That decision was one of the best ones we have ever made. My mom was sick at the time and my husband's mom was not getting any younger. We were lucky enough to be close and share irreplaceable memories with my Dad and my mother-in-law. We still have my mother-in-law going strong at 90. She is valiantly fighting a losing battle with Alzheimer's, but we are lucky to enjoy the time we have left with her. We love owning our own company and staying put in one place - our beloved North Carolina.

     When I turned 50, my book club read a book about bucket lists and we all brought in our top three things we wanted to do in the time we had remaining in our lives. 
"The Next Thing on My List" by Jill Smolinski helped my to realize that time was short. That sweet book put me on my current path. You could die at 28 or 38 or 50! I needed to start doing those things I had been waiting to do when I had time. That same week, while eating at Pei Wei, my fortune cookie told me, "Someday you will write a book." That some day is today. I have now written a 75000+ word novel, short stories, and 160 posts on this wonderful blog among other things. I have started two more novels. When I first shared my dreams with my daughter and husband, my wise, young daughter told me to start a blog and get the rust off my writing skills. I do love writing this blog. Reading in my second favorite pastime after time with my family and writing. 

     So keep your fingers crossed out there that my novel, "The Distance Between Us", will someday find it's way to your hands and remember that your life is too short to wait one minute longer to begin living it. Now get out there and go for it!  You are lucky enough!