My Kreativ Blogger Award

I want to take this opportunity for a dear genealogy blogger pal, Thomas MacEntee, over at Destination: Austin Family for giving me this award! I have a small smattering of followers of my blog, but there isn't a great amount of dedicated readers. I believe I have stated before, however, that I write because it pleases me and makes me so doggone happy, having readers is like the icing on the cake!!! So, when I received my email from Thomas passing this award on to me, I was beyond thrilled. I was ecstatic!

And so, it now seems, having accepted this award, that I must reveal seven things about myself, that I have never revealed to anyone via my blog, Facebook, or Twitter. So... here goes:

1: I grew up in Norfolk, Virginia. Moved to West Virginia's hill's when I was a teenager. But to hear my voice, I am often mistaken for someone from the "deep-south". I drawl my words and have pronounced southern accent. While I have a fair knowledge of proper English, I speak with such idiosyncratic words as "ain't", "ya'll" and "duh" with most folks. However, when speaking with a more refined party, I try to remember I was raised properly and attempt to make my Mother proud of my speech!

2: I have always loved listening to the stories told me by seniors of their youth and younger days. Today, I love to sit and listen to my own Dad recall stories about his father and his ancestors. I am entranced by them!

3: When I was 4 years old, I once was playing in a tool shed [which had been converted into a playhouse for my 2-year old sister and I and it sat in our backyard]. My little sister was forever following me around then. So, struggling as best as I could, I climbed up on a bench, pulling and tugging my 2-year old sibling with me. At that point, I picked her up and shoved her onto a shelf high on the wall. Where I left her until my Mother went looking for her, alerted by the screams and cries that were emanating from the closed door of the tool shed. [And which incident my dear sister has never let me forget!]

4: Sad to say, but the truth is, I have been married 4 times in my lifetime. [Took me that many times to get it right!] My first husband and I were married 15-years and have 5 wonderful grown children together [I was a 16-year old child bride]. My second husband and I were married 6-months. And my third husband and I were married 2-years. But my dh, John, and I have been married nearly 12 years. And, yes, we both, finally got it right!!!

5: If I were a rich woman, I'd be a perpetual student in some fine university, studying everything I could get my hands on! I am a voracious reader, and self-teach myself a variety of subjects through my own voracity. Genealogy was one of those subjects. Currently, I am learning about the history of the Freemasons and Rosicrucian's. [Yes, I recently read "The Lost Symbol"... Dan Brown does it to me every time he writes something new!]

6: I was once diagnosed [in 1997] with incurable lung cancer [oat cell carcinoma]
and given a 6-month prognosis. [Nope, never smoked more than a half-pack of cigarettes in my life!!!] I underwent radiation, and was to begin chemotherapy when x-rays and subsequent biopsy showed I was miraculously healed! [I say love me cured me! It was a few weeks after my dh, John, and I were engaged. And yes, he knew I was an ill-fated partner when he proposed. But he proposed anyway. That's what true love is all about!] Did I say I was a romantic at heart, too?

and lastly,
7: I am the eldest child of my parents, who were both military service enlistee's when they met and married in the 50's. My mother is the youngest of her five siblings. My Dad is the 13th born of 15 siblings. So I have always been around a large family. Perhaps that is what led me to produce five children of my own. [I recently announced the birth of my 12th grandchild!]

And so, now perhaps you know a little bit more about me that you did before I received this award! [The "Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" so to speak!]

So, in the vein of this award, I must now pass it on to 7 other bloggers. So, with that in mind, I sat and contemplated to whom this should next fall. So, I chose my top 7 bloggers, of whom I never start my day without reading what they have last written:

Virginia Genealogy Blog

Creative Gene

EOGN

Family History Thoughts and Links

Moultrie Creek

Footnote Maven

and

Genea-Musings

I can certainly name many more that deserve this award for their ingenuity and wonderful writing style! But these are the first 7 on my list!

Many thanks Thomas for this award! I sincerely treasure it! - cbh