Hello there all. This just took my heart away. When my family first moved to Missouri from California in 1979, we moved to a little town of Asbury, Mo, just northwest of Joplin, Mo. We have family friends that live there. Please share and hold all of those devastated by the wild tornado's that have plagued the United Stated this year, 2011.
My Blog used to be “The Adventures of Annie, a Driven Writer and Jeff, a "Bound to Be" entrepreneur choosing to take to America's Highways to provide, inspire, be inspired and as always....to entertain.” Then Trauma happens…Lives change.
About Me
- Anne Surviving Changes
- Anne Thompson, Author, born in Orange County California in 1967 and raised in magical Flowering Dogwood, Show-Me- Mid-Western state of Missouri. Anne received her education from the University of Central Missouri in English Education, Creative Writing and Communication. She is married with three grown children and four Grandchildren. Anne is a self-published Author of the Five-Star Rated thriller “VISIONS” available at Amazon.com. http://tinyurl.com/bu66w8h Anne used to be an aspiring writer until a traumatic event exploded her life into a million pieces. Her goals were to bring you articles that would, take you away for a minute, shock you, make you laugh, make you go “Oh Yeah, I get that!” and to inspire. Her life used to be an adventure every day. Her life has changed and with those changes her life became a very bumpy ride. She wanted you to come along because her adventures were sure to guarantee many surprises. But, lives change. You are still welcome to come inside her mind…only if you dare.
Showing posts with label journalist blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label journalist blogs. Show all posts
Monday, May 23, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
The Dream
By: Anne Thompson
Dreams, do they come true? Well, I am starting to believe because a dream has come started to come true for my husband and I. Don’t get me wrong, it's not as if we have never had a dream, we have dreamed. It’s just that we also started to live and in doing so our dreams kind of got put on the backburner. That is okay but do you know that song, “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay?” when Ottis Redding say's "Seems like nothin's gone my way and nothing ever seems to change. I can do what ten people tell me to but everything remains the same." Well, It seems as if this has been my life for the last 40 yrs. To me it has always seemed as if everybody that I knew had a purpose in their lives. Like everybody else’s life was moving forward and progressing toward something and while I on the other hand hadn’t even figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up and I think I have already grown up, well, a little more responsible at least. I have just been living on autopilot.
Then life took an amazing turn. My kids started leaving the nest. Wow! What freedom. Wow! What heartache. Once the fire of freedom started to recede and the heartache started to become bearable I suddenly noticed my husband for what seemed like the first time in years as “My Man.” Not as a father or a husband but as my best friend and my lover and what do you know but we began to dream. We started wondering what we could do with the rest of our lives. We let the dreams that we had let go so many years ago back into our minds and talked about what it would take to make those dreams come true. We made a decision together and decided to make those dreams a reality. We decided to turn those dreams into a quest. Something we strove for every single day. There were many days when all we accomplished was patience. We continued our lives as they were but we strove for the dream. Each day and each week brought us closer and closer to that dream because we did whatever we could each day to make that our reality.
For us that dream has started to come true because not only are we driven but because that drive has started to produce results. We are beginning to leave our old realities behind for a new one. A reality that was once just “The Dream” has been struggled for and now we are beginning to live it. It can happen. We didn’t get to start from the same starting line as anyone else and we never had it easy in life but now that we are living our own dream, the waiting all seems to make sense.
So, the dream itself isn’t important to anyone else but that you are striving for it and not giving up, not letting go. It’s the drive a person puts into dream s that make them the reality, even if it means waiting.
So dream whatever you want and never let anything ever seem to be impossible or too unattainable. We are living proof that dreams can come true, even in your forties.
In case your curiosity is wondering what our dream is, I will tell. Mine is to be a published writer/columnist and to make a CD of my original music, and my husband’s has always been to own and operated his own home and employment on wheels, to own a Semi-truck and be the owner of his own life and decisions including financial freedom. The truck we have always dreamed of?, well it is sitting right out in front of the house, bought and paid for. No debt there. Me? Well, I’m writing this aren’t I? And I will be cutting the CD soon. So, there you go.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
My Swan Dive into Short Fiction
Memory of a Miracle Long Past
By: Anne Thompson
In the winter of 1970 life was a white magic wonderland. Christmas was right around the corner and with the fresh fallen snow, everything glistened and sparkled in the city streets. Shoppers were bustling and children were laughing, playing in the snow since school had let out for Christmas. Such was not so for one family, the Murphy family. After just having moved to the southwestern part of Missouri from sunny and hot California where the children, Tom, then five, Jenna, then seven and Maggie, at that time four years old, had never even seen snow let alone ever had to trudge in it, were not liking the cold or the snow at all.
Since school had let out, Maggie had gotten to go with their Dad, who drove a big truck. And, unlike Tom and Jenna, who were probably lounging in front of the television and the fireplace or watching the sun dance on the snow, Maggie was scared and caught in a blustery, blinding winter storm with her dad. He was working hard to see the road and was also more than likely pretty anxious to get home. The storm kept coming and Maggie’s dad kept struggling. All through the day the wind blew and the snow and ice pelted the truck. Maggie slept a lot. Curled up in a ball in the sleeper, Maggie would listen to her Dad try to sing songs to make her feel better until finally, she would fall asleep.
As the day went on and the night drove in along with the storm, Maggie's dad kept trying to drive through the forceful storm and so were all of the other people out on the road trying to get home. It was a horrible night to be out, so many cars on the road were making things treacherous for everyone. Soon my Maggie’s dad had to get off of the big interstate and had to go it alone on a two lane highway. It was a skinny two-lane highway that had not been plowed very much, but my Maggie’s dad kept driving. The night wore on and Maggie’s dad was growing weak. There were headlights coming at them from what seemed like all directions running in and out of the snow. It looked like they were headed right for them and then Maggie’s dad saw an overpass leering ahead. The lights, they were so bright and Maggie could feel her dad tense up and suddenly he grabbed her hand and said, “Hold on baby!” and then it happened. The car that was coming at them lost control. They could see it as it hit them and then Maggie felt it hit them and then Maggie felt the window hit her head. After that, all went black for Maggie for a while.
Back at her home Maggie’s mother was trying to get everyone settled in with supper and wood for the stove when the phone rang. Tom, and her sister were watching their mother and noticed when her eyes went big and she began to cry. A voice on the other end of the phone had asked my mother how long it had been since she had heard from her their dad, who periodically would stop and call her throughout the day. It had been since this morning she said. He was due to be home by now but, she figured the weather had him held up. The voice on the other end of the phone advised their mother that her husband had not arrived at his point of destination and that there was no sign of him. They had issued a search by the highway patrol and county police departments. Maggie’s mother’s sharp intake of air, held for the longest moment according to her sister and then she just fainted.
Long into the night everyone waited and prayed. Those that were searching were taking an awful long time to call with any news and Maggie’s mother was sinking deeper and deeper into the fear of losing her husband and a child.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the phone rang. It was miraculous news about their father and Maggie. They had been found and we were alive. The police said that after finding the truck wrecked and completely totaled, they searched for Maggie and her father and found their father leaning sitting against a phone pole with Maggie cradled in his arms and his coat draped over them both. The police said that they could not imagine how they survived without a scratch or how Maggie’s dad had gotten them to that telephone pole, keeping them alive and warm in the cold as long as he had. It was a miracle. A real miracle.
By: Anne Thompson
In the winter of 1970 life was a white magic wonderland. Christmas was right around the corner and with the fresh fallen snow, everything glistened and sparkled in the city streets. Shoppers were bustling and children were laughing, playing in the snow since school had let out for Christmas. Such was not so for one family, the Murphy family. After just having moved to the southwestern part of Missouri from sunny and hot California where the children, Tom, then five, Jenna, then seven and Maggie, at that time four years old, had never even seen snow let alone ever had to trudge in it, were not liking the cold or the snow at all.
Since school had let out, Maggie had gotten to go with their Dad, who drove a big truck. And, unlike Tom and Jenna, who were probably lounging in front of the television and the fireplace or watching the sun dance on the snow, Maggie was scared and caught in a blustery, blinding winter storm with her dad. He was working hard to see the road and was also more than likely pretty anxious to get home. The storm kept coming and Maggie’s dad kept struggling. All through the day the wind blew and the snow and ice pelted the truck. Maggie slept a lot. Curled up in a ball in the sleeper, Maggie would listen to her Dad try to sing songs to make her feel better until finally, she would fall asleep.
As the day went on and the night drove in along with the storm, Maggie's dad kept trying to drive through the forceful storm and so were all of the other people out on the road trying to get home. It was a horrible night to be out, so many cars on the road were making things treacherous for everyone. Soon my Maggie’s dad had to get off of the big interstate and had to go it alone on a two lane highway. It was a skinny two-lane highway that had not been plowed very much, but my Maggie’s dad kept driving. The night wore on and Maggie’s dad was growing weak. There were headlights coming at them from what seemed like all directions running in and out of the snow. It looked like they were headed right for them and then Maggie’s dad saw an overpass leering ahead. The lights, they were so bright and Maggie could feel her dad tense up and suddenly he grabbed her hand and said, “Hold on baby!” and then it happened. The car that was coming at them lost control. They could see it as it hit them and then Maggie felt it hit them and then Maggie felt the window hit her head. After that, all went black for Maggie for a while.
Back at her home Maggie’s mother was trying to get everyone settled in with supper and wood for the stove when the phone rang. Tom, and her sister were watching their mother and noticed when her eyes went big and she began to cry. A voice on the other end of the phone had asked my mother how long it had been since she had heard from her their dad, who periodically would stop and call her throughout the day. It had been since this morning she said. He was due to be home by now but, she figured the weather had him held up. The voice on the other end of the phone advised their mother that her husband had not arrived at his point of destination and that there was no sign of him. They had issued a search by the highway patrol and county police departments. Maggie’s mother’s sharp intake of air, held for the longest moment according to her sister and then she just fainted.
Long into the night everyone waited and prayed. Those that were searching were taking an awful long time to call with any news and Maggie’s mother was sinking deeper and deeper into the fear of losing her husband and a child.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the phone rang. It was miraculous news about their father and Maggie. They had been found and we were alive. The police said that after finding the truck wrecked and completely totaled, they searched for Maggie and her father and found their father leaning sitting against a phone pole with Maggie cradled in his arms and his coat draped over them both. The police said that they could not imagine how they survived without a scratch or how Maggie’s dad had gotten them to that telephone pole, keeping them alive and warm in the cold as long as he had. It was a miracle. A real miracle.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Windmills...
Windmills?
I will let you decide for yourself.
Big wheels, Hot wheels, traffic and, “Is there a finish line”?
Interstates Everywhere—What on earth is the rush? Are you getting in a car? Can everyone just, PUT DOWN THE CELL PHONE AND PAY ATTENTION. Sorry, had to get that out. Is your seat belt on? Do you really know where you are going and how you are going to get there? Please do not stop in the middle of the INTERSTATE!, again sorry I get to get that out, because you missed your exit.
Are you prepared to Understand that you are NOT getting on a Speedway, but getting from point A to point B? See, I had more control there. I didn't capitalize everything.
Now, as you are traveling along these roads notice the traffic. Do you notice that there are these large Trucks? Okay well, these trucks are normally carrying about 80,000 pounds of product. A lot of weight to try and manage when no one is paying attention to that truck. These trucks have blinkers and need to be noticed. Upon seeing a trucks blinkers and you are beside that truck in the direction the truck needs to move to, please do not speed up but decrease excelleration and yeild to the truck. There is normally a very good reason why that truck is needing to get into that lane. For example there could be motorist on the shoulder that the truck need to get away from.
These big trucks out there have people in them that are trying to make a living, not to be difficult. Please help them to be able to their job safely by not cutting them off and yielding to them while coming up an on ramp and sharing the road by paying attention to the fact that you are driving a car not multitasking.
There is also something to be said to drivers in the trucking industry everywhere. Please be considerate of others lives and Lose Some Weight! It amazing me what can be seen in truck stops all over America when in a fuel isle and someone can be seen getting out of a truck that is so obese that they can barely get out. Obesity is dangerous and not enough people take it seriously. Some of these drivers are ticking time bombs for a heart attache or a stroke. What are they thinking? Am I being to bold? The trucking industry could use a clean up act when it comes to the health and well being of not just the trucks but the drivers themselves. Saying something directly to someone about that is difficult but, if the doctors nor the companies are going to then someone has to so I guess that would be me. I plan on bringing that up to Anne Ferro, the Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
A Big Thank you to all of those states that care enough about drivers to build nice rest area's and places to relax, enjoy the scenery, walk the dog. Not enough states build enough, if any. Kudos to Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin for making them beautiful.
We love you.
Please be a part of saving lives and keep it between the lines.
Thank you
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