Busy, busy, busy

I wrote in an earlier entry that this all seems like a dream to me; it still rings true. When I was a child, I was a dreamer.

"I'm going to be famous someday," I announced to any adult that would listen. The adult would smile, pat my pigtailed head, smile, and walk away. I was cute when I was small, but as I grew older, that phrase drew scorn and criticism from my elders. I was not "little girl cute" anymore, and my practical thinking community had little respect for dreamers.

"You should just be content to be a good mother and wife when you get married. Don't chase rainbows, and dreams never come true. You'll never amount to anything." This was the views shared by several people in my community, but not my parents.

Both Mama and Daddy constantly stressed the importance of education and the fact that I could do anything that I put my mind too. They told me "aim high" for my goals and that no star was out of reach. I spent many late afternoons riding on my Palomino, Dewdrop to a hill on my family's ranch. There I would watch the sun sink beneath the horizon and get lost in my daydreams. I had dreams of notoriety, of being a "somebody." I wanted desperately to prove the people who doubted me, wrong.

I wrote "Some Snowballs Don't Melt" in 2002 as a tribute to my late daddy and his beloved dog. On a whim, I sent it to Chicken Soup. Yeah right. Like they would accept a MS from someone like me. I was delighted when they told me I was accepted.

Tonight as I took my walk, I paused to gaze into the setting sun; as in days of old I began to daydream. This time it's different. My daydream: Slowly I walked through the tall grasses of my father's pasture. In the distance, high on a hill, is a girl seated on a fiery Palomino mare. A quail breaks the silence of the evening by chirping Bobwhite. After reaching the hill, the mare is alerted of my presence and snorts contemptuously as I approach. She knows no master other then the tanned brunette sitting on her back. The mare's rider stares at me with the same contempt her mount showed. Slowly I approach and gaze into her dark blue eyes.
"You're going to be okay. You'll have some rough moments, but you'll find that eventually. with hard work, your dreams will come true."

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By the way, I've created a website for my story. You can see a copy of the bookcover on my site.