Butterfly Phoenix Receives the Very Inspiring Blogger Award

I was honored when my good friend and fellow author, Linda Lee Greene, informed me she was nominating me for the Very Inspiring Blogger award! I was so blessed! Her novel, Guardians and Other Angels is available in eBook format and print on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Here are seven things about me that will help define who I am, and what I do best.

Seven things about me....

I was born in Boynton Beach, Florida, and moved to my mother's home state of North Dakota when I was a toddler. I was born a blue baby in the late 1960s, and this is where my story is somewhat interesting. My first doctor was a man who had narrowly escaped Cuba before the Bay of Pigs. He just happened to be in Miami and had specialized in a relatively experimental surgery in cardiology for infants.

I am the mother of three beautiful grown daughters, and grandma to two very special grandchildren.

I love culture and world history. Growing up on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in western North Dakota immersed in two story-telling cultures, Irish and Native American (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara), gave me the ability to appreciate and accept people for who they are.

I'm supposed to talk about an achievement in my life. However, I view my life itself as an achievement. I could have, and in all likelihood should have, died at birth, but I didn't. I grew up in a time of extreme conflict, fear, and violence and survived - not unscathed, but survived nonetheless. I endured eight years in a loveless relationship as the significant other of a man whose life became consumed by drug abuse and alcoholism. I championed a home to the best of my ability as a single-mother in a relatively conservative state. I graduated college twice while providing for my three daughters. I have overcome many obstacles and challenges in my life, and that is an achievement that cannot be dwarfed by any award or accolade I could ever receive.

I am currently working on "The Chrysalis Series", a fantasy trilogy set in the times of the Gael - although not a historical fiction series. The first book, "The Butterfly Fields," is near ready for release. However, I don't have a set date. The story follows two sisters, Elsie and Annalicia McCormick, as they both find their way through the wilderness of life in the hopes of finding the freedom, safety, and sanity they enjoyed in their youth.

I have my favorite organizations, and as many of my long-time readers know, those organizations are the ones who champion for the unwanted, uncared for, and unloved of the world. Diva Connection is one of those organizations, because they not only champion for women, they empower women of all ages and all walks of life to champion for others. The Jeremiah Program, because they help young single mothers build sustainable successful lives. And my national organization is GEMS, who advocate for and assist young women who are victims of sex and human trafficking. I have been a mentor mother for the Young Mothers Network of Cass and Clay Counties since 2009.

I am not currently serving on any boards or committees. I am a member of the American Legion Auxiliary - Arthur Solie Post, Parshall, North Dakota. I am a member of the International Association of Administrative Professionals. I served as a parent volunteer, and later as the Secretary of the Executive Bethel Council of Bethel 32, Moorhead, Minnesota, of the International Order of Jobs Daughters.

I would like to take this opportunity to nominate some of my friends who are bloggers that I feel have made a positive impact on my life. I hope that you will go visit their blogs and leave a comment. In alphabetical order, they are:

Arlene O'Neil - Although she is not a blogger, she's still very inspiring, so buy her book Broken Spokes, you won't regret it.

Sarah L. Wallace at Cross Roads of Humanity

Wendy and Charles Seifken at Seifken Publications

Simply Saturday: The Brink of Creation

Henry David Thoreau, what a character in the history of the United States. He was a little...shall we say...different...than the rest of his colleagues and peers in the literary world; and the world-at-large.

Although he was a rebellious spirit wandering the world, he was an incredibly descriptive writer. I imagine spending all that time on Walden Pond gave him ample opportunity to think about the world and his place in it. As I was reading Walden: The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau, I was immediately transported to world rarely seen by human eyes. Thoreau takes you to the very brink of creation in his writings.

Every minute detail of his prose has been discovered through endeavors of a laborious nature. On pages 246 - 248, there is a description of the formation of the ice over Walden Pond with such intricate detail it took days to observe the process, lying full length on the surface noting every detail as it occured.

Thoreau lived near Walden Pond from 1845 to 1849, on a place given to him by his friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson.

"I went into the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the factual essentials of life, and see if I could learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." ~ Henry D. Thoreau.

Thoreau's life on Walden Pond was lonely and secluded with occasional trips into the nearby village, which he loathed. Although he seemed lonely for the human interaction, if it had not been for his sabbatical to Walden Pond, we would not today know and understand the deepest meanings and intricate details of the natural world surrounding his humble abode.

Initially I set out to read Walden as a means to understand descriptive detailing of landscapes. I find learning from the masters far more intriguing than conforming to the modern techniques of telling tales. In the process I learned a little something about the natural world,  a bit about the society of Thoreau's time, and some about me.

Spring has come to the valley in which I live. Soon the butterflies will return to flutter about on the hot summer days. In all of creation, there is nothing more splendid and peaceful than the flight of the butterfly; no matter where she chooses to flit, or land.