Amy-Michelle

While reflecting on my childhood, I am immediately overcome with nostalgia. Thoughts take me back to a moment in time held close to my heart, threads of warm memories covering me like a blanket. My father worked hard as a brick mason, seasonal work dependent solely upon good weather. I recall him coming home, clothes covered in white masonry powder, exhausted, but still carrying a smile. My mother, a homemaker, cared for our every need, keeping house and preparing three meals a day with whatever provisions were available. During my childhood, she was the core of our existence. Saturdays were spent outdoors exploring, while Sundays were spent at church and grandma’s house visiting with relatives over dinner. Life was much simpler back then.

Fast forward several years, having graduated high school, unlike my parents or grandparents before me, I enrolled in college, though briefly.  After only one semester, I decided to join the United States Army instead, waiting until much later in life to earn my degrees while working full-time. Our family tree, steeped in military history, had cultivated a curiosity in me for years. I wanted an adventure, to discover what lay in store for me, the first female in my family to pledge the oath. Little did I know then, but I would meet my husband in service and the military history would continue onward for our two sons. 

Through the school years, I wrote many required papers and stories, yet the desire to write poems and novels on a personal level grew within me slowly. I did not really attempt a full novel until earning my Associates Degree, and by the time I completed my Bachelor’s, I had written a trilogy, with countless other ideas taken down on paper.  The road from pen and paper to publisher is a long, arduous one. Some never reach the finish line. Despite those odds, I believe in the journey, the real adventure, and will continue the path regardless of what the outcome may be. So, who's with me?

 

Thanks to friend and photographer, Tina Carr, for the photo.