Blog??  Me??  An introvert at its best!  A non-communicator!  Words just don’t come to me!  I’ve never been able to ad-lib.  I remember trying to teach a Sunday school class when i was young. I had to memorize all I was going to teach. That was over in just a few minutes and i had nothing to say for rest of the class!  I don’t remember how I filled the time but i can assure you, it wasn’t by talking!  But God did give me the ability to write more than I could speak!  So maybe blogging won’t be as difficult as I thought!  I think my mind is in slow motion and writing gives it more time to work!

My dad made me take a public speaking class in high school because of my shyness.  I took it, wrote my speeches, handed them in, and took an incomplete for the course.  Many years later I attended college and had to get transcripts from high school. That class was still showing incomplete!  I always thought incompletes turned to an F. Well i guess technically it did cause there’s  no credit for an incomplete!

At 38 I had 4 kids, a retried husband who decided I needed to go to work since the kids were getting more expensive.  He gave me a choice of working in the mills or going to school. I chose school. Going thru the college catalog, nothing appealed to me except nursing!  Yes!  I would become a nurse!  My first clinical I was pushed into my patient’s room by my instructor!  I was scared to go in because I’d be forced to talk to him one on one!  My instructors all tried to weed me out during the whole program because they thought I wouldn’t be a good patient advocate!  But…I persevered and came out 2nd in my class, a class that started with over 30, and ended with 17 graduates!

That was an Associate Degree in Nursing. I wanted to further my education and get my BSN. But I found it was a total struggle because of the horrid treatment I received during my 2 yr program. When I said they tried to weed me out (and they told me they did at end of program) they made it so hard, so humiliating in every way they could and it made it way too difficult for me to stick with yet more college.  Another factor that kept me from pursuing further education was that a speech class was required!  And we already know how I love speaking in public! Lol!  So it would be years before I could bring myself to go back to school.

But life has a way of changing all your plans. I worked as a nurse for almost 10 yrs. then discovered a knot on the right side of my neck. I was told by Drs it was thyroid cancer and very treatable. Surgery was planned. But surgery resulted in a change of diagnosis. It was not thyroid cancer. It was metastatic squamous cell cancer with an unknown primary site. A smoker’s cancer and I’ve never smoked!  Radiation was my only option. And that knocked the life out of me.  It also did so much damage I had to have a g-tube for nutrition, and a year and half later, a trach so I could breathe. My esophagus occluded, as well as my throat was nearing occlusion.  That was 24 yrs ago. I still have a trach and g-tube. But God has been awesome to allow me 24 years I never thought I’d ever see, 7 grand kids I feared I’d never even meet!

So my nursing days were over. I started taking classes periodically, trying the waters to see if there was something i could do while having a disability. I decided to conquer my fears and I actually took a speech class!  It was different than I’d imagined. Demonstrations for one thing. I did it!  I conquered my fear!  Didn’t get me anywhere but it was such an accomplishment to finish that class …with an A no less!

So that’s the story of how much of an introvert I am. Nursing was my love. I love nurturing, caring for others. I miss it. But I’ve learned that life continues. We can face it head on…and accept our limitations, focus on what our capabilities are, or we can spend our lives focusing on what we no longer have, and lead a lifeless life!  I choose to live!  God didn’t put me on this earth to feel sorry for myself and waste my life in self pity!  He gave me a voice…maybe a voice in writing only but a voice none the less!  So here I go, blogging!  Using the “voice” I was given!

I hope you follow along as we continue with some exciting sewing thoughts and tips!  This was just an introduction to my blog, my life. I find sewing to be healing, stress relieving!

Until next time…happy sewing y’all!