12.18.2021 Wednesday, we had the weirdest weather day. It seemed to hit most of the central United States. Here in Wymore, we had a rainstorm go through that was moving fast. It only lasted about 15 minutes with the hard rain and then just light rain with high winds. We had high winds of nearly 80mph wind gusts for about 12 hours. When it wasn’t gusting, it was 25 to 35mph or more. The rain came from the east and the wind from the Southeast. Truly weird weather. Kansas, where my son lives had more sustained high winds. Parts of Nebraska as well. The temperature was 70 degrees. So, so crazy. There were broken trees, limbs, garbage thrown around and lines down everywhere. We were without power for about 5 hours. Thank goodness we had a generator for my oxygen concentrator. The portable doesn’t last that long without a recharge. I heard of several tornados across the state. I don’t know exactly how much damage we had locally, but earlier in the week, Kentucky lost many buildings and people to tornadoes that made a huge swath over about 150 miles. All of this in December of all months. I think we all need to be praying.

12.14.2021 I’m 66-years-old and I’m finally understanding why my parents didn’t know how to make me grasp the things that happened when they were young. I listen to my children and grandchildren. When I talk about the sixties or seventies, they don’t relate to the events of those times. They may study things that happened then or things we used then but they think it was something from the covered wagon days or just plain bizarre. Our children remember the old phones that sat on a desk or hung on the kitchen wall with the spiral twisted cords that only stretched a certain distance. They also understand the remote phones with the base unit that had a specific range for the hand unit that didn’t need a cord. My grandchildren only see that in the movies. We do keep a land line that we can plug into the jack for times when satellite towers are out of use and the electricity is out. They’ve never seen that in use. There’s seldom an occasion for both electrical outages and downed satellites to happen at once. It’s hard to get them to understand the importance of keeping track of a checking account. They carry their debit cards and depend on whatever the store or their banking on the internet tells them. We still insist on using a pen and ledger attached to a checkbook. We do use debit cards most of the time, but we always figure it out in the checking ledger. I realize that maybe the millennials don’t understand our technology or the history of our generation. However, I also must admit that we’re behind the times in their eyes because we haven’t learned to trust the new systems of working paperless. It makes a person wonder what it will be like when our grandchildren have children and grandchildren. Will they be as slow to pick up on technology and share relatable history as we are now?

Live your own story. Today I thought about my story. I’m a writer but I don’t often put my own story together. I had a dream when I was in High School to work in the medical field. That or I wanted to be a journalist or some kind of writer. I married young and started a family so things didn’t work out the way I’d planned. Not right away, but I never lost sight of those dreams. They settled in the back of my brain for a while. I’d worked as a CAN for several years. When my oldest children were getting past the toddler stage, I told them and my husband they’d have to depend on a lot of each other for the next year. I found that with a grant, I could go to practical nursing school and get a license. I worked as an LPN for nearly twenty years before I had a meltdown. I got involved with a musical group and it turned out that it wasn’t the direction I needed to go. However, during that experience, an series of events happened that triggered a long dormant trauma. It was also at an age, nearly 40, that the symptoms I had turned into a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. I didn’t feel I was a safe nurse anymore. My emotions were cycling up and down and I couldn’t manage to get myself under control. That also affected my family. I tried working in medical transcription but after about a year, I started to break down under the pressure. I spent much of the next year and a half in and out of the hospital. Finally, we made the decision that I’d go on SSDI. Some people still think that social security disability is taken out of their taxes. It’s not. I’d been paying into the fund out of my paycheck for all the years I’d worked. I still felt like I could no longer contribute. Once I finally got stabilized on medication and a lot of therapy, I found that it was time that I do the other thing in life I felt strongly about. I set out to become a writer. I went back to college and took as many humanity and social science courses that I could. My junior year, I switched from a two-year college with a 4.0 grade point average to a four-year college. My counselor suggested that for my bachelor’s degree I should take business management. I didn’t think it would lead me into what I wanted to do but he strongly suggested it and I took his advice. I never went into business, but I never let go of that dream. I did take writing courses including creative writing as electives. I found that I did have an ability for writing. It wasn’t just a pipe dream. I’ve now written three novellas and a book of short stories. I’ve written and had several articles published. I’m currently on another book. I’ve also found an ability for art and crafts that I never knew I had. Nothing in life is wasted. The good and the bad are a part of my story. Don’t give up on your dreams. Don’t let anyone discourage you from pursuing them. I’m not wealthy as an author by far. I’ve sold a few books. I given some away and people who read them ask me when the next one will be out. You have a story. I haven’t written and autobiography, but there’s a piece of me in every story I write. You can accomplish your dreams if you don’t let the people who discourage wear you down. Your dreams are possible even if they don’t become the best in the world. They are important.