A Different World

Thank you my new friend, The Redhead Riter, for this lovely blog award. I think your blog is pretty awesome, too. I enjoyed the post on The Redhead Riter's blog today. "Into The Unknown". A lot of good points and observations were made. My younger daughter graduated high school this year. She's 18 and thus legally an adult. She's eligible to start college, get a job, and even enlist in the military. She could go to fight in Iraq. Yet, she still calls me "Mommy". She still asks me to drive her to her best friend's house to spend the night. She still asks me to buy her chocolate. She still cuddles up to me to watch movies. She's still my baby. But she's not a baby. She's a young woman who must soon spread her wings and take flight. She has a lot to learn even though she thinks she knows it all. She's scared to look for a job and take responsibility for her life. She wants to take the summer off and have fun before college starts. Her world at 18 is a lot different than my world was at 18. I didn't have PC's, the internet, computer games (except for one lone Pac Man game sandwiched between lots of pin ball machines - I still prefer pin ball to video games), cell phones, VCRs, MP3 players... I bought 8-track and cassette tapes that unwound and got ruined a lot. I loved to walk to the Pony Keg so I could buy penny candy and Coke in glass bottles. I danced many nights away at the Disco. I met one boyfriend "bumping" on the dance floor. I went to sleep at 10 pm when the TV station went off the air. Or I read books under my covers with the aid of a flashlight - until my dad caught me. I listened to Beatles, Beach Boys, Elvis, Motown, Carly Simon, Bee Gees, Donny Osmond, and David Cassidy 45's and LP's nightly. I was very upset if I couldn't be home to watch Star Trek (the original series). There was no VCR or Tivos when I was young. I had to cook on the stove and in the oven. Toaster Ovens were a new gadget when I was a newlywed. Microwaves (at least ones I could afford) came a few years later. I played jukeboxes when I went to the diner and the Airman's Club. (I miss them.) As archaic as some of this may sound to some people, my parents were in awe at all the changes they saw in their lifetimes up to the time I was a teen. They said their parents (my grandparents whom were born in the 1890's and 1900) saw the most incredible change in their lifetime. Imagine being a child when there were few cars and most people still rode horses, used buggies, rode streetcars, or walked and living to see jet planes and rocket ships shoot into the sky. I think that beats growing up without the internet and video games. This past century (about 110) years has seen much swifter change than the millenium before. I love to write, read, and watch time travel stories. Is it any wonder? There's so much to work with. You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

Please don't scare me

I don't have my Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Acrobat available at the moment or I'd lable this pic "Please don't scare me." Cute little guy, isn't he? This was taken after an earthquake in China.

He reminds me of my younger daughter, newly graduated from high school, 18 years-old, but not yet ready to be an adult.

She's excited and happy to be out of school, and yet, she's not. She's scared of the big world and possible earthquakes.

Above are both my daughters, 25 and 18, M and S. The 25 year-old isn't quite sure what she wants to be yet when she grows up, either.

Heck, sometimes I feel that way.

I always wanted to be a writer. Along the way I was also an accountant, cost-pricing analyst, soldier ("Airman" since I was in the Air Force), waitress, hostess, cashier, and finally a customer service rep and manager. I took Accounting in college so I never dreamed my path would wind up in customer service but it's right for me. And writing.

Sometimes I still have doubts if I've chosen the right paths, if working two jobs, meeting book deadlines, and promoting my books is what I still want to do. Stress is wearing on me. I know it is when I feel like I'm the panda pictured above, backing away and a little scared.

Last night I thought about stopping, but I couldn't find anything else I'd rather do to fill my time. I like to learn new things. I thrive on multi-tasking and creating new things. I have characters running around in my head that would drive me crazy if I didn't let them out.

It's time for a vacation and a change of scenery, but not to give up my dreams and goals.

I wish I could renew myself at Lori Foster's readers and writers get together in Cincinnati this weekend, but I can't get away right now. I don't have the financial wherewithal to even splurge on a movie.

But I need to find ways to relax and fill my well.

How do you renew your spirit?

How do you keep going when you can't get away from work much less travel to distant, exciting places?

A trip to the swimming pool at the gym sounds refreshing, but that will have to wait for another night. I have to take the graduate to softball practice at the park this evening.