More than anyone else in the world, my parents have had the most powerful influence on me. They divorced when I was 12, and I was raised by my mom, who passed away much too young when she was 54 and I was 30. My dad built a very successful office machines business from scratch (literally starting with a suitcase full of repair tools he kept in the trunk of his car) after a bad experience from his first venture at building a company with another guy who pulled it out from under him and left him on the street at age 52. Dad always was resilient.
Both of my parents endured plenty of hard times in different ways. My mom died four decades ago in March 1983 at the age of 54; and my dad passed away one month shy of his 96th birthday in June 2019 (see blog post titled, “A Eulogy for Dad,” published on that day, and second blog post titled, “It’s All Good,” on September 2, 2019).
My mom never remarried after my parents’ divorce, but Dad remarried four years before Mom’s death, so I had a stepmother for many years after Mom died who was very influential in my life, and she was like a second mother to me. She died in 2011 after almost 32 years of marriage to Dad. The three of them are my heroes.
I was born in the Midwest in the second half of the 20th Century. I acquired what is known as the “Midwestern work ethic” at a very young age. Ever industrious, at the age of ten I painted my rusty old blue one-speed bicycle that had really thick tires, with a bright red lead-based paint long before we knew lead-based paint was dangerous. The red paint was so shiny that I almost needed sunglasses when I was riding it (LOL). I painted it bright red because red is my favorite color, and because I wanted it to look nice–not old and rusty. I also sold lemonade at a makeshift lemonade stand and I did assorted other things industrious kids do. I was also a very compliant kid. Nobody ever had to tell me twice to do something, or not to do something, either. I learned quickly to stay out of trouble as much as possible, and to keep a very low profile.
At this point I had planned to continue at with a little more biographical info but I’ve already written a bio on my regular blog site at “Sara’s Musings.” You can access that bio titled, “Author Bio,” by clicking on this link.
Photo #1 credit here
Photos #2 & #3 are personal photos
Sara's Reflections 