Friends and family that know me well, know that I have been threatening to write a book for the past 20 years. When our daughter was a baby, I even took a course on writing children’s books. After my mom died at 52 from a terminal illness, I wanted to write a book about how she lived her last couple of years with grace and courage. Every so often I’ll come up with a new idea, but after a few days, I get too overwhelmed and the thought of writing an entire book becomes too daunting! I can’t even count how many single page “prologues” to different books I have lying around! (I really should be a millionaire by now!) So when a dear childhood friend of mine recently suggested that I start writing a blog, I was definitely interested. He was so excited and had so many good ideas, that it ignited a spark inside and made me feel like I had to try. Of course I really don’t like to type (not to mention I’m a hunt and peck typist!) I do LOVE to talk though! Ask anyone who knows me – they will tell you I rarely shut up! But the thought of doing a Vlog sounds even more intimidating since I rarely meet a picture of myself that I like (we will talk more about how to be kind to yourself in the future! ) So I’m going to give this BLOG thing a shot! Hmmm… I do believe in ghosts… maybe I could use a ghostwriter?! I digress…did I mention I have brain damage? (I’ll explain that later, too!)
So what makes me, or my “inspirational” friend, think anyone would ever want to read about my life, my opinions, or my fitness advice? Well I do have a bachelors in psychology! That got me almost nowhere! Ha! And I’ve been a personal trainer and gym owner for the last 20 years, a certified Christian life coach, a Steven Minister, and volunteered at hospice. But that doesn’t mean much! It’s the life experiences, and how I relied on God to walk beside me through it all, that I love to talk about and share with others.
I have been told many times that people are amazed by my positive nature after so many bad things have happened. I have definitely been through some stuff. But really, who hasn’t? Starting with childhood trauma; broken home (twice!); my mother, and best friend, dying of the most horrible disease ever, ALS; my grandpa dying suddenly six months after that; our daughter having a baby her senior year; that baby being born with a heart condition and being put into NICU; our daughter eight weeks later going in for a routine gallbladder removal and developing acute pancreatitis and fighting for her life in ICU/hospital for 15 days; said daughter going through a very tough and crazy divorce at 20 years old; and oh yeah, me getting diagnosed with MS the same year I became a grandma! I hope to share with you my life, my funny experiences, my crappy experiences, entertain you, make you think, make you cry, make you laugh (my 91 year old grandma says I can still make her laugh about almost anything!), and challenge you. I’ll share words of faith and give you fitness and diet tips. I’m not a writer. I might not have perfect grammar or punctuation (although I often quietly correct others grammar!) I apologize in advance for all the dashes and parentheses- did I mention I have brain damage? It’s really just tons of ideas racing through my head at once. Or is it the voices in my head? 999 voices to be exact…and some of those voices are my dogs…and remember I “talk” a lot! This could be a fun road. Or a long, exasperating road! I hope you’ll travel it with me!
BuffGrandma 