So many things have happened since I last posted. I reread my last blog written over 5 years ago and hadn’t remembered that my last posting was about my mother. The summer before she passed away, I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. I wasn’t able to travel much after my diagnosis because of the chemo I was receiving and subsequent stem cell transplant. My last visit with my mother was in the fall of 2013. I didn’t tell her about my cancer. She was in failing health and didn’t need to worry about me.
Right after my stem cell transplant, I had to take off a half a year from teaching. I thought…wow, all this time to write! But, I couldn’t. I found I didn’t have the energy or brain power to even revisit or revise some of my previous stories. I returned to teaching that fall and haven’t written anything since then. I am retiring the end of this school year and look forward to having more time to write. I haven’t given up my dream of becoming a published children’s author.