And then this happened

I’d like to think that I am not technologically challenged – and I’m quite proud of the few things that I have managed to figure out for myself. For everything else? I have kids 😉

The threat of technology and even the so-called simple process of doing certain things has been a hindrance to me. But I finally swallowed the pill of fearless internet, and embarked on a new journey. There’s no stopping me now 😉

I have seven books currently on my computer – all written by me, in a variety of genres. I have finally published my very first one.

Your vote counts…maybe vote for me, please?

Darkness had already fallen last night, and I was preparing for some relaxing time with a book when my phone beeped to indicate the arrival of an email.
My heart stopped as I read the notification email telling me that ‘the finalists had been announced’. It was from this blog. You may have seen an earlier post that I shared, announcing a writing contest for a new publishing company that had been established, called Endever Publishing.
I entered the contest, with the help of a couple of very good friends…..

And I made the TOP THREE FINALISTS!!!! Here is where you come in, because you need to go along and cast your vote, please!

It’s here, at last!

So……it’s taken me a while, because life always happens when I have other plans…….but here it is, at last!

*Drum roll please*

I was nominated for an award. Yip. You read that right.
I’m flabbergasted! Speechless! (And so were my fingers, for a while!)

It’s called the Liebster Award, and is an award given by bloggers, to other bloggers.
The rules for this award are as follows :

1. Thank the one who nominated you:
2. Display the Liebster award logo of choice:
3. Answer the eleven questions posed to you by your nominator:
4. Nominate eleven (11) fellow bloggers and
5. Ask them eleven questions to keep the love going:

So without further ado….

THANK YOU to A @ Moylom Enterprises for this distinguished award! Thank you for your faith in my abilities, and for seeing promise in my writing. Your support is very much appreciated!

And here is my answer to those amazing 11 questions that you put to me…..

1. What is one go-to thing that cheers you up no matter what?

This is such an interesting question, because in ‘my world’ it cannot be limited to just one thing. A baby’s giggle – that tummy chuckle that starts from deep within, and erupts from their throats; a puppy – everything about it, including its puppy breath; a friend that shows up on my doorstep with a gift – any gift : coffee, chocolate, wine, flowers (but always better when it’s something we can share).

Recently, however, I had a frightening experience. My daughter had a bad reaction to an antibiotic, and vomited for two hours straight. I was instructed to take her to the hospital – and twenty minutes after arriving, she collapsed from dehydration. My stomach sank, and it took everything in me not to crumble. As I looked down at her pale and seemingly lifeless body, every breath that I took was a mumbled, ‘Don’t take her. Please don’t take her.”

We were alone in emergency for two hours, the drip in her arm steadily feeding her liquids after the painkiller and anti vomit medication had found its way into her veins. I sat there, holding her limp hand, alone. And then her little eyes opened, somewhat vacant at first. She turned her head and looked at me, and smiled. In that moment, I was cheered up instantly. My ‘baby’s’ smile did the trick – and it was better than any of the things I have mentioned above. Her antics the past two days, and seeing her eat and drink without losing any of it, has been cheerful medicine for me.

2. What’s your favorite form of exercise?

Garfield comes to mind here. I remember a cartoon with him captioned, “Whenever I think about exercise, I lie down till the thought goes away.”
Another saying comes to mind, “I get enough exercise pushing my luck, jumping to conclusions, and flying off the handle”.
None of these apply to me though – well, not really. Although admittedly, I sometimes do push my luck, and fly off the handle.

I am not big on exercise. In younger years I loved aerobics – but after two serious car accidents, and with age taking me almost to the top of the hill already, I have to be careful with all that jolting and jiving.
I love to dance though. I’m one of those who will get on the dance floor when the music starts, and will dance four hours straight, not stopping for anything. (It usually takes me a few days to recover though.) I don’t get out much to dance these days though.

Walking would have to be my next favourite – long walks with beautiful scenery, like the beach, or a forest. But at the moment, where I live, it is no longer safe to go for a walk – so I have to limit my walking to parking on the other side of the parking lot when I need to do my shopping.

3. Who is your favorite person in the Bible and why?

I’m afraid I can’t pinpoint just one – so many, for so many different reasons. I love the way Noah took no notice of society, and went ahead and built that big old Ark – he didn’t bend under the pressure of his peers; David was only human, and was brave enough to admit when he was wrong; I love how Esther managed to keep her faith, and still submit to her husband – great strength of character; and then there’s Paul, who was content no matter what.

If only we could all carry these virtues in our hearts (what a different world we would live in, and how different our lives would be) : to not bend under the pressure of the world as to how we see ourselves, and what we do; to admit when we are wrong, no matter the consequences; to hold onto what we believe and yet still respect others; to be content with what we have, instead of always wanting more and ‘doing whatever it takes’ to get it.

4. If you had to choose a vacation destination and money was no object where would you go and why?

Now you are NOT allowed to laugh. And if you’re American, you’re going to. Especially if you know the town I am going to mention. (There’s a bigger picture here though.)

Firstly, the destination would be AMERICA – good ol’ USA. You did say that money was no object – so there’d be a few destinations there. But our first stop would be a little town called Hutchinson in Kansas (yeah, you’re laughing).

Bigger picture, remember? Eleven years ago, I began blogging in a community – a very warm one – and I made a LOT of American FRIENDS. I call them friends, because when I just couldn’t put any more heart into blogging due to circumstances, we added each other on Facebook. Phone calls, emails, Facebook friends – these people were more active in my life than my close-by friends. I consider them more ‘my family’ – and they probably know me about as much as I know myself.

There is one friend though who is more like a sister. We’ve been through hell together, from both our sides, over the past eleven years. We lose touch for a few months, and pick it up right where we left off. I have ‘watched’ her children grow, as she has watched mine, and we have shared the triumphs and disappointments of motherhood, and life, along the way. (We still do.) We often joke that the only reason we have different mothers is because one mother couldn’t handle both of us. She is me – only a wilder version 😉  Not wild in a bad way. But she’s the tough one. I have my strengths – but she’s stronger. She’s fit, and in comparison, I’m fat. She’s successful in so many ways, I’m still waiting at the airport for that ship to come in 😛 She’s still married, I am twice divorced. We are so opposite, and yet….we’re the same. For Grey’s Anatomy fans – she is my person.

And before I die, I want to sit on the porch swing with her, (while her husband barbeques, and our ‘little’ kids – who are the same age – irritate each other somewhere in the vicinity), and sip wine, and talk – face-to-face. I want to meet my ‘sister’.

I’m sure you’re still getting over the disappointment of Hutchinson, Kansas…..so here’s a more exciting next stop.

My daughter and I are huge fans of American movies – in fact, my ‘sister’ there hasn’t seen half of what we have, let alone heard of them. Ha!

A popular one though that everyone knows, and is one of our favourites, is ‘New Years Eve’. I want to take my daughter to New York – Times Square on NYE. Even if we’re just in a hotel with a view of it all – our hearts desire. Of course, she wants to see Disneyland, and Los Angeles (so many movies associated with this!) – and she wants to dance at one of the large dancing companies (inspired by Another Cinderella Story). We want to see Texas, and see real life cowboys; and experience ranch life (Dr Dolittle 3 and a few others). We want to experience all the rainy days of Seattle (Sleepless in Seattle), and go to the top of the Empire State Building (same movie). On ‘my sister’s recommendation’, we have to check out Arizona too!! Strangely enough, when I mention Hollywood (and all the famous actors/actresses), she just shrugs her shoulders and says, “Ok”.

My son is 17, and is aiming at pursuing his own dream soon – Australia.

Thank goodness ONE of my children shares my love and passions for the US 😉

So if money was no object : Destination USA. And we’d do the country proud with our tourism.

5. What would you consider to be the most important aspect of a person’s character ?

This is a short one – Integrity. Because it leads to so many of the other character traits that are positive to one’s being.

6. What would you consider to be your ultimate purpose in life ?

To live it to the best of my ability. And by live it, I don’t mean, “Party hard. Die young. Have a good-looking corpse”. I mean, “reaching and striving to be the best I can be, sharing and caring and impacting lives in a way that means something positive, even if only just for one person in a day, week, month, or year; helping my children to grow and build their characters and become the best they can be, no matter how long it takes.”

7. What goals would you like to accomplish in the next 5 to 10 years?

This is pretty much self-explanatory, if you refer to number 4 above. It probably doesn’t seem like much of a goal to many of you – but trust me, it would be quite an achievement. If I wasn’t a citizen of my country, I’d even go so far as to set up a crowdfunding account – laugh out loud!

Reality is that this is a goal that I may never achieve. But I remain filled with hope. I call myself a ‘prisoner of hope’, for even in the darkest days when I think nothing will ever work out, that tiny seed of hope in my heart continues to grow.

My other goal would be to become a writer – a writer who could actually make a living off what is produced by my mind. This would certainly bring me a lot closer to the original goal – number 4 above.

Thing is, in my country, many are struggling to survive on what they earn – and those are couples : two incomes. In my house, I am the sole income contributor – I receive no maintenance for my children ( a long and complicated story, and the laws are different here), and so there are moments where it seems we won’t even survive. In those moments though, that seed of hope receives a sprinkle of water, because something always happens – and we’ve never gone hungry. There is no opportunity to save, no opportunity to invest – but there is the opportunity to continue dreaming, and hoping….and so the seed plants roots.

8. What do you enjoy most about blogging/writing?

As I am sure many will agree, blogging/writing is a great outlet for feelings, and the thoughts that gather in your mind but have nowhere to go. For me, however, the real enjoyment comes in the form of someone who expresses appreciation for what I have written – perhaps something I have said has helped another, or has made someone smile. Maybe they just enjoyed ‘wading through my words’.

It gives me a great sense of satisfaction that someone has taken the time to read something I have written, and have found pleasure in it.

9. What are your thoughts on global warming, renewable resources, clean energy, recycling etc?

Global Warming? This quote : “The most important thing about global warming is this.         Whether humans are responsible for the bulk of climate change is going to be left to the        scientists, but it’s all of our responsibility to leave this planet in better shape for the     future generations than we found it.” Mike Huckabee

In fact, all of those listed above come down to this : environmental responsibility.

If we don’t take care of our bodies, and continue to live in a way that is harmful for them, then our bodies begin to give in – liver fails, kidneys fail, heart stops…..and our bodies cease to exist. “Despite the high cost of living, it remains popular”, and so we do everything we can to combat failed kidneys, liver, heart. Why would we not do the same for the earth we live on? If it ceases to exist, so do we.

10. What do you like most about where you live right now?

This is a sensitive subject for me at the moment – and I am not going to get into all the reasons why because it might spark a debate that I just don’t have the energy for right now. (And since ‘my kind’ has now been added to the genocide watch list, I am sure you can understand why.)
But after much thought, I will say this : What I like the most about where I live right now is that I have two beautiful children who live with me, a dog who is my constant companion, and I have trees in my backyard.

11. How does it feel to be nominated for this award?

Honestly? Two very strong feelings.
Honoured. That someone would deem me worthy of even attempting this task. And…..

Intimidated. That voice in my head – the one that never keeps quiet (but sometimes gets a root from the seed of hope stuck in its throat) – tells me that I may not be able to do justice to this award, and thus will be a failure. Thankfully, failure is something I am used to….and I am always up for its next challenge.

And that, fellow bloggers, is that. I am working on my set of 11 questions, and will be making nominations soon…..so watch this space! Hope you enjoyed the long read 😉