30 Days of Thankfulness + Big Giveaway #5

Welcome to November and Unwritten's next BIG event, 30 Days of Thankfulness, featuring a tremendous giveaway that will be PERFECT for a reader on your Christmas list...or a gift for yourself!!! We are giving away a...

 Kindle Fire HD6

Yep, you heard me right, but that's not all. All authors participating in this month's event have also generously donated a Kindle copy of one of their books so you'll already have some great stories to read when you curl up with your new Kindle!! To enter, just complete all the easy entries on the Rafflecopter on the bottom of this page. Today and all other days that aren't spoken for, I'll be taking the reins to tell you about some things I'm thankful for :

My Mama & Grandma

 They're the folks I came from, and the two most influential women in my life. First, there's my mama, Linda:

Yeah, that's me, back when fat meant cute.

Mama loved owls, Mello Yello, and crocheting. She was the slowest eater I have ever seen and could talk to anyone for hours on end (introvert me didn't inherit that gene). One summer day, we sat at the kitchen table eating watermelon fresh from the garden. We ended up flicking watermelon seeds at each other and all over the kitchen. Funny how little memories like that have stuck with me. On my 23rd birthday, she surprised me with a collection of my poetry she had gathered up, typed out, and had bound herself. That book, and the star-patterned blue & white afghan she made me are some of my most cherished possessions. I hadn't started writing as a career yet, and wouldn't until about 10 years later, but she always encouraged me to keep after my dreams. She passed away in 2003, and I miss her very much, but I try to carry on her legacy by encouraging others whenever I can. My favorite saying of hers:

Can't never could do anything.

I try to remember that every time I feel like giving up on something. You can borrow it if you want.

My mama wouldn't have been here (or me for that matter) without my grandma, Kessie:

"Mom" Kessie, baby me again, and my brother Marty

Since my mom was a single mom for the first 7 years of my life, my grandma, who lived right up the road, helped raise my brother and me. We called her "Mom", and our mom "Mama". To my cousins, she was "Mamaw", but we all loved her no matter what we called her. She was a terrific gardener and would plant a big garden all by herself every spring. I loved helping her plant the seeds, pick beans, shell peas, and shuck corn. I do wish her green thumb had carried on in me. I can't even keep a potted plant alive, but at least she taught me early on how to work hard and see a job through. She only had a 6th grade formal education, but "Mom" was smart and loved to read. I'll never forget all those little Harlequin romance novels she kept beside her bed. Without her, I may have never discovered my love of the written word. She taught me to read when I was three. I still have the coloring book where she wrote the ABCs in blue crayon on the inside front cover. 

Me at the Walk to End Alzheimer's, holding a pic of "Mom" in remembrance.

"Mom" passed away from Alzheimer's Disease in 1990, when I was fourteen. A couple years ago, my daughter Megan and I raised $120 from sponsors and participated in the Walk to End Alzheimer's. It was a very heart-touching and memorable event, where folks who'd lost loved ones and those who were fighting the disease came together to help fund the research of the Alzheimer's Association. If there's one near you, I'd definitely recommend it.

I'll never forget these two beautiful women, and it's my fervent prayer that I can make them both proud as they look down on me and my family from heaven. If your mom and/or grandma are still around, give them a big hug and tell them you love them. There are never enough yesterdays.

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