FEARLESS FRIDAY
I’d like to
thank Brenda for hosting me on her Fearless Friday blog this week. My debut novel with The Wild Rose Press, Fairest of the Faire, came out this
month (more about that later). I’m
feeling quite fearless these days! Today
I’d like to talk to you about my fearless moment, which happens to coincide
with my reaching what I hope is the mid-point of my life. Yes, I intend to reach 100!
Just before I
turned 50 years old, I was laid off from the last job I thought I’d ever
have. I had been working in a community
college in Missouri, realizing that I was going to get a really nice retirement
out of it if I worked until 60 (I started when I was 39), and living a happy
life. That bombshell dropped the floor
from beneath my feet, and I needed to consider very carefully how I was going
to support myself and my family, and still get to retirement with some bank in
the bank! I was 50 years old, and worked
in an incredibly niche field. In
addition, the economy in Missouri, which had somewhat weathered the 2008
recession, completely tanked in 2011.
Finding a job anywhere in my home state, where I was born and raised,
was going to be extremely difficult.
An opportunity
arose for me to move to Colorado for work in my field. It was a really good opportunity, and while I
would take a pay cut, and would have to endure a year or two of income that was
not as secure as I would have liked, it was not an opportunity to pass up. But it meant moving my family away from
everything they knew, to something we didn’t know a whole lot about, 1000 miles
from our well-developed safety net of friends and family. I was comfortable and familiar with Colorado,
as I’d spent time there over the years, but for my family, this was a serious
change. Everyone but me would have to
find jobs – my grown daughter (she turned 18 on our way across Kansas) and my
husband. My grade-schooler would have to
start all over making new friends and going to a new school.
We had a huge
yard sale. We gave some of our things
away to family and friends. We picked
and chose what we wanted to take, and what was either too dangerous to move, or
would not survive the move. Every single
one of my houseplants made the cut and got on the truck (I DO have my
priorities!). The gas grill did not (and
I’ve regretted it ever since). The
lawnmower came, and the bicycles, but the dining room set was left behind. The cats were packed in their carriers, much
to their dismay, and away we went. My
oldest daughter had had her driver’s license barely a week when we left
Missouri, and I put her behind the wheel of one of our cars, which was laden
down with my antique mirrors in the trunk and the lawnmower strapped to the
luggage rack. My husband drove the
moving truck with our youngest, and me, the cats, and the household linens
pulled up the rear in my old Toyota sedan. What an adventure!
Four years
later, I know we made the right choice.
Hubby and the daughter are gainfully employed (she is going to college,
too). We have a house with big trees and
a yard and gardening space, and a view of the Rockies from our front
porch. My job continues to keep me busy and
well-versed in my niche field. And I
finally pushed myself to finish that novel.
What fearless
thing have you done? I’d love to hear
about it in the comments!
Fairest of the Faire by Susabelle
Kelmer
(Available now!)
Schoolteacher
Connie Meyers is suddenly a young widow, her husband killed in a horrific car
accident. Heartbroken to find out he had gambled away everything they had, she
moves to her sister-in-law's Midwest home to rebuild her life. A trip to the
local Renaissance Faire with her nieces leads to a summer job as a costumed
storyteller.
Avowed bad boy
and fair performer Gage Youngblood is infatuated with Connie at first sight.
Despite his deliberately commitment-free life, and Connie's don't-touch-me
attitude, he soon has her in his arms, realizing quickly she is also in his
heart.
When she is
threatened by her late husband's bookie, he steps into the role of protector,
his fate forever sealed with hers.
Susabelle on the
Web: http://www.susabelle.com
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Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/susabelle
Learn more and
buy today from Amazon or Barnes and Noble: http://www.susabelle.com/fariestofthefaire.html
