It's time to congratulate the 176th POTW: SARA BLOW!
http://community.adlandpro.com/go/itsmesgb/
First of all, thanks to the POTW Team, Kathleen VanBeekom and Thomas Richmond for all the work they put into making this happen every week for the community. Next, to all you dedicated community members who so diligently nominate 7 people each week. To all of you, thank you for nominating me and for the win this week, even if only by one vote!! I would gladly have given this spot to Roger for he is much deserving of it.
My Bio
When I won POTW sometime back, I was fairly new in the community and a little nervous about sharing my story with you. Now I feel that I am a real part of this wonderful community and so many of you are close friends and a part of my daily life. I want you to know about me.
In 1991, my brothers and their wives, my sister and husband, and I took a trip back to rural Alabama where we were born and raised. They actually were able to find the house I was born in and we took pictures. It was a small house and completely surrounded by trees and vines. It was then I knew why I loved China Berry Trees so much, the place was surrounded by them. As you might guess from this trip where all of us took together, using two vans, that our family was and is still very close. My parents were the best ever, loving and protective, hardworking and strict. My Daddy was a farm manager and Mama loved the children but would much rather be working alongside him than doing housework. We moved quit a bit because of his work but usually within the same vicinity. My parents had 7 children but lost my sister, Lurene, when she was only 7 years of age. The 4 boys were all born by then and my Sister Sue was born later, then 6 years later, I was born. Mama was 42 years old and never expected to have more children. I was born on April Fool’s Day!! Imagine that!! My oldest brother was 21 years old than me.
Okay, you get the picture. I was spoiled, pampered, and protected. The bad part was being so much younger, I could never do anything right. My siblings, in their loving way, corrected me on everything I did and made me feel very foolish. They were so intelligent and I was so far behind. This left a great impression on me and one so deeply ingrained that I carry it with me to this day. After my brothers left home and married, my sister continued the tradition and constantly reminded me of my failures. We loved each other very much but she was very resentful of me. After she graduated and left home, I spent 6 wonderful years with my parents and we became even closer. The most joyful times back then would be when holidays came around and all the children came home. The house would be packed with loving people and children and babies, smell of good food, lots of laughter and everyone just being together. Even thinking back now can bring joy to my heart for the love of a wonderful family.
When I decided to leave the nest and fly on my own, it was a difficult path I took. I moved to Montgomery, Alabama (big city) from backwoods country and was so excited and enthused that nothing could stop me. I took a course in Business Administration after I could not afford to take an art course or go to college to be a lawyer. From there it was secretarial jobs and it should have been called sexatarial jobs because in those days that is what got you hired in Alabama. Every time I took a job it lasted until I rejected the passes made by the boss. Then things began to change the day I was fired from furniture store because I wouldn’t kiss my 50-year old boss. A friend of mine found me crying and told me to dry those tears and get up to the newspaper, they would hire me. Thus began my career with the Montgomery Advertiser. I worked my way up from Circulation to Secretary to the Editor. I really did have newspaper ink in my blood by then. I loved every part of it from top to bottom and had many lasting friends in all departments. Then a corporation bought out the management. My boss owned stock in the company and would not sell. His daddy had been editor before him and he was very famous (in our little world). His name was Grover Hall, Jr. and one of the most intelligent, interesting friends I have ever had. I learned a lot from him and he would let me sit in on meetings with his staff and friends. He was close friends with Governor George Wallace and wrote many of his speeches, which most people did not know. The first thing to happen in trying to push him out was get rid of secretary. No problem, the next day I was hired as a Committee Clerk for the House of Representatives. Thus began my career involved in politics. Those were some exciting days!! Governor Wallace was from my home county and we already knew each other. He wanted me to work in his office but I turned it down. I was frightened to be too close to that much excitement and what might be expected of me. I felt much better being where I was. I never used sex as a means of getting a better position and I feel good about that. I knew those who did, I knew of the governor’s girlfriends and those who helped him get ‘girlfriends’. So my relationship with Gov. Wallace was strictly on a basis of being friends and he treated it with respect in that way and just loved to have conversations with me. He gave me permission to visit him anytime and his bodyguard knew me, so if I wanted admission to his capitol office on weekends, they took me in. If it was on a workday and his office was full of reporters waiting all lined up around the room, all I had to do was tell his secretary who I was and ask to see him. He was always ready for a break and we would visit a few minutes – he just loved to get my views on what was going on. Of course, there were some of my reporter friends who asked how I did that when they had been waiting all day!! It was fun!! As committee clerk we handed the bills to House Clerk and were often times on TV.
My Gus was already born by then and that was the happiest day of my life!! When he was almost 3, I decided I wanted another child. Yes, I – my husband never even wanted children. To the disappointment of many people I worked for, I quit my legislative job and did not work while I was pregnant and not until my sweet Stanley started kindergarten. Those years with my children were the best but then I had to go back to work. My husband had a good job but demanded that I work also. I then found out what it was like to work for the government, very boring. I worked for the Extension Service, moving from a local county to the district office. There it was much more exciting and challenging. However, it meant a roundtrip per day of 90 miles. That career lasted about 9 years. It ended bad, right after I divorced my husband of 21 years and after 3 years found my Wilson and we married. We spent about 5 years in Selma but when Mama died, Wilson wanted to come back to Kansas. I made the decision to come with him.
Wilson and I have been married 23 years now and have that forever love for each other. I wish that for everyone. I did not love my first husband, I had a compassion and motherly feeling for him and he is the father of my children. Now, our children are all grown and we have a granddaughter and 2 grandsons. We live here at Cedar Hill, an old Kansas farmhouse that we rent because the landlord owns 60 acres here and wants to keep it in the family. It is about falling down, especially on the outside, but we have made it home now for 16 years and love the yards, the space and the freedom of country living. Eventually we know we will have to move to a one-level home and closer to town. For now we just enjoy what time we have and share it with our 2 indoor cats, Meagol and Little Missy, our part Lab, Molly, and our outside cat, B.C. who just wandered up one day and decided to stay.
Wilson still works at a local grocery store, does not make much but we do quite well since he gets all the bargains on food. I am retired and have my SS for now, which as you know is not much. We have learned to be conservative over the years. We do without things most people take for granted. We would like to have a little more luxury items but we are very happy and thankful to have what we do. God has been good to us and we remain forever thankful.
I hope you are not bored to death by now but I wanted to take this opportunity for some of you to get to know me as to who and what I am. I have been judged harshly by some in this community and it saddens me. I have been called two-faced, pity me, and in some cases sacrilegious. Those are things I do not like about others, why would I be that myself. There is still a forum thread up in one person’s forum with many harsh statements against me. Our CEO Bogdan did make him close the forum but he has yet to delete it. Have no idea why not except maybe as a trophy. Oh yes, I am a very sensitive person, I do at times ‘feel sorry for myself’ and suffer depression. I lost all those dearly beloved ones very close together – only one brother left – and went through some of the most stressful years of my life taking care of one brother with lung cancer, after my oldest brother had just died, my other brother had heart surgery and did not recover, my brother-in-law died from cancer 2 weeks after Hugh died from lung cancer. You may call it post traumatic syndrome because it was and is. I came back to Kansas a broken person, leaving my ailing sister behind. She gave up after I left and died within months. So judge me if you will. I will still be the same person and care deeply for other people, always willing to help in any way that God has given me the ability to assist.
This community is very important to me and many of you have become a part of my life. There are so many loving, intelligent, and supportive friends here from all over the world that I will not let just a few get me down ever again. I thank Bogdan for making this community available to all of us for it is unique in the way it is handled and how we can develop friendships – even marriages!! So let’s continue to spread that love, hugs, and peace throughout and it will catch on like wildfire and spread to all of the community.
Love you friends,
Sara
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Thank you, Sara! It seems like you've been here a long time now, even though lots of us remember when you first got here, time flies when we're here every day for a couple of years!
Jan Green (7th from last Nominator according to time-stamp, we get one every week who post in the previous week's closed poll! That's OK, we find them and count them!)
http://community.adlandpro.com/go/JJGreen/
We haven't received an ad from Jan yet, so here are her 3 active forums:
Window Shopping: http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/14622/ShowForum.aspx
Networking: http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/29325/ShowForum.aspx
Open Networker: http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/29816/ShowForum.aspx
Sarah Pritchard (10th from last Nominator)
http://community.adlandpro.com/go/sarahp/
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Here's the new poll for the 177th Nominations write-in election ending next Tuesday, February 24th: http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/thread/1202221.aspx
Please visit FRIENDS OF POTW FORUMS and find out how you can get your forum listed here. THANKS!!!
http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/thread/1187238.aspx