STEPPING UP AND
SPEAKING OUT
Question 1 -Tell me about your childhood, what was the best part? Worst part?
I grew up in a small country town in southeast Texas and lived a sheltered life. My parents did their part to protect me from the “ugly” in the world and wanted me to be an innocent kiddo as long as this world would allow it. I remember my mom dressing me up in frilly dresses with matching lace socks and big ribbon bows in my hair (BIG bows is how we do it in the South!) and keeping me pristine. I started competing in beauty pageants at age four. My very first crown was “Miss Tiny Tot Review” and I learned to crave the attention, power and stardom winning afforded me.
However, the little girl in me honestly couldn’t wait to rip all the fancy clothes off and put on my jeans and moccasins and run around in the woods getting dirty, catching tadpoles, blowing cat tail weeds and eating Muscadine and Honeysuckle picked right off the vines. I was a true country kid at heart! Back in the 1970’s, kids could play outside until dark and roam the neighborhood without worry of human trafficking or pedophiles- we got to explore and create our own adventures. My mom oftentimes speaks of how she instantly spotted me out of our neighborhood “gang” walking home at dusk because I was the dirtiest kid in the lineup.
The BEST part of my childhood was being able to live life without fear, anxiety, pain, deceit, and worry. I felt secure, safe, loved, powerful and confident. My childhood was filled with laughter, love, dancing lessons, piano lessons, twirling in parades, beauty pageants, playing clarinet in the band, discovering what my interests were, learning about life and being free to dream. I thought it to be the best childhood ever until I grew up and looked back and realized it wasn’t as perfect as I always thought it had been. There were some dark times, times I chose to ignore, stuff down deep with Little Debbie snack cakes, or times that caused such