I’m writing this post in response to a write-every-day-in-May challenge to write my life story in 250 words or less. I love to talk/write, so “challenge” is definitely the right word for this. Here we go . . . 

I was born 50+ years ago and had a complex childhood and teen years. Looking back, I can see that, growing up, I was often on the outside looking in, and I had no idea how to be a part of what I was observing with such longing. 

I became a teacher, married at 26, and gave birth to the two most wonderful people I know — my son and my daughter. For many years, my husband and my lives were centered around our children and their activities. Life was a whirlwind of sports and school activities and kids in & out, and I couldn’t have been happier.

Eventually, our home became the proverbial empty nest, and a year later and totally out of nowhere, came a cancer diagnosis. Six weeks and one day later, my husband was gone, my life changed forever.

The past five years have been ones of survival, of coping, of being on the outside again. Alone. I’ve moved a couple of times and have come full circle back to my home town, and I’m contemplating what I want to be and do as I move forward.

I long for a small (maybe even tiny) house, a network of close friends, my children within “visiting distance”. Even more, I long to be comfortable in my own skin, to live a life of joy.

I’m a Christian, a mother, a widow, an educator, a writer, a dabbling artist, a lover of water, and a seeker.

Wow . . . I did it! My life in 247 words. Wait — that means I have 3 left. Hmmmmm . . . .